226 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITl TE. [VoL. II. 



to which the Indigo-carmine Fluid gives a grass green color are so few 

 that they may be mentioned here : the yolk spherules, the degenerating, 

 peripherally arranged, nucleolar bodies in the nuclei of maturing amphibian 

 ova, the nuclei of some of the clavate cells in the skin of Necturus, also 

 some of the nuclei of some of the cutaneous mucous glands of the same 

 (in chromic acid oreparations), the nuclear and cellular elements in the 

 stratum granulosum and stratum lucidum of the epidermis, structures in 

 the sheaths and cellular layers of hair follicles, yolk-like elements in the 

 protoplasmic layer (syncytium) covering the chorionic villi in the cat, 

 the substance of the dim band in striated muscle fibre, and finally, 

 though not so distinctly, the lardacein of amyloid degeneration. It will 

 be seen from this list that except in the Amblystoma larvae in which 

 there is abundance of yolk spherules, there is no danger of mistaking any 

 other compound for haemoglobin. Where such a mistake was possi- 

 ble as in the case of the larvae, I resorted to other staining reagents. 

 From the list given it is to be inferred that the Indigo-carmine Fluid is a 

 valuable reagent for certain processes of cellular degeneration. In 

 connection with striated muscle fibre the reaction is significant, pointing 

 to the derivation in the Amblystoma larvae, of a portion at least of the 

 dim band from the yolk spherules (the haematogen of Bunge?) or demon- 

 strating in the dim bands in Necturus the presence of the red pigment 

 described as haemoglobin (KUhne, Ray-Lankester, Levy and Hoppe- 

 Seyler) or as myohsmatin (MacMunn). 



I stated that the reaction of the Indigo-carmine Fluid with haemoglobin 

 results in a grass-green or a greenish-blue color, but, strictly speaking, the 

 greenish-blue color or stain should appear only when the haemoglobin 

 has been fixed with corrosive sublimate. I omitted to state, moreover, 

 that the antecedent of haemoglobin gives under certain conditions the 

 grass green color with the staining reagent. 



Bayerl* endeavoured in the following way to prove that the substance 

 in the red corpuscles staining grass green with the Indigo-carmine Fluid 

 is haemoglobin : A quantity of dried amorphous haemoglobin from dog's 

 blood was dissolved in water, mixed with the indigo-carmine Fluid and 

 the mixture treated with a saturated solution of oxalic acid. The color 

 of the whole was grass-green. This experiment is not so decisive as it 

 appears from the description, for I found that it is only once in a while that 

 a green shade appears in the mixture. I found also on spectroscopic 

 examination of the mixture, that the haemoglobin was on the addition 

 of oxalic acid more or less rapidly transformed into haematin. Even 



* Loc cit. 



