Chap. 12 



CIRCULATION AND TRANSPORTATION — BODY FLUIDS 



209 



Numbers 15000 

 of cells 



Time 



Total 

 Leucocytes 



Neutrophiles 



Lymphocytes 



Chylomicrons 

 (fat) 



8 A.M. 



Fig. 12.10. Increased number of leucocytes in the blood due to emotional dis- 

 turbance in afternoon after receiving a letter from fiance. Curves showing total 

 number of white blood cells, of neutrophils, of lymphocytes, and of fat particles 

 (chylomicrons), the last not concerned in the disturbance. (Data, courtesy 

 Smith: "The Absence of Digestive Leucocytosis," Folia Haemotologica, Leipzig, 

 1932.) 



human blood, it may be the wrong type. In this case the red cells carry an 

 antigen (agglutinogen) which reacts with an antibody (agglutinin) already 

 present and the blood cells are agglutinated, i.e., stuck together in clumps 

 (Table 12.3). 



In 1900 Karl Landsteiner, experimenting in a medical laboratory in Vienna, 

 discovered that when the blood cells of some persons were mixed with the 

 blood plasma of others, the cells remained separate insome cases and clumped 

 together in others. This was the beginning of the discovery of blood groups 

 which made possible the transfusion of blood from the blood vessels of one 

 person to those of another. Before this, the unexplained and sometimes fatal 

 results of transfusion made it a last resort. The clumping of the red cells of 

 incompatible bloods plugged up the blood capillaries and ultimately caused 

 death. The bloods of donor and patient, therefore, must be compatible. Tests 

 have shown that two kinds of antigens (agglutinogens), called A and B, 



