1896.] MICEOSCOPICAL JOURNAL 16T 



.Comparison of the Fleischl, the Gowers and the Specific 



Gravity Methods of Determining the Percentage of 



Haemoglobin in the Blood for Clinical Purposes. 



F. C. BUSCH, B. S.; A. T. KERR, Jk., B. S., 



BUFFALO, N. Y. 



Members of the Aiuericau Microscopical Society. 



Each year the importance of the clinical examination 

 of the blood is becoming better recognized. In this ex- 

 amination there are two points to be ascertained which 

 are generally acknowledged. These are, the percentage 

 of ha3moglobin and the number and kind of red and 

 white blood corpuscles. 



For determining the hsemoglobin there are several 

 methods. The hsemometer of Fleischl, the hgemoglobino- 

 meter of Gowers and the spectroscopic method ofHenoc- 

 que, are fairly well known. None of the above methods 

 employ the microscope, but a determination of the 

 haemoglobin is so intimately connected with a microscop- 

 ical examination of the corpuscles of the blood, that we 

 feel justified in presenting this paper. 



It is recognized that there is a relation between the 

 specific gravity of the blood and its percentage of 

 haemoglobin. Hammerschlag has constructed a table 

 giving the haemoglobin percentages corresponding to the 

 different specific gravities of the blood. 



Under the direction of Dr. Williams, professor of 

 pathology in the university of Bufi'alo, we have made ob- 

 servations upon over 100 patients in the Bufi'alo Greneral, 

 the Erie County and the State hospitals. 



In these observations we have compared the sj)ecific 

 gravity method of Hammerschlag with the hasmoglobino- 

 meter of Gowers and the hasmometer of Fleischl. 



Fleischl's ha^mometer consists of a colored wedge, with 

 a graduated scale attached ; a well with two compart- 

 ;ments, one for pure water and the other for diluted blood; 



