118 THE BLOOD 



The most noteworthy substance in this table is the nucleohiston content, 

 first isolated by Kossel and Lillienfeld. Beside the substances in the above 

 table, the white corpuscles contain salts of potassium, sodium, calcium, and 

 magnesium. The potassium phosphate is present in greatest amount. 



The Composition of the Red Corpuscles. Analysis of a thousand 

 parts of moist blood-corpuscles shows the following result: 



Water 688 



Solids- 

 Organic 303.88 ) 



Mineral 8.12 f 3 = i,ooo 



Of the solids the most important is Hemoglobin, the substance to which 

 the blood owes its color. It constitutes, as will be seen from the appended 

 table, more than 90 per cent of the organic matter of the corpuscles. Be- 

 sides hemoglobin the corpuscles contain proteid and fatty matters, the former 

 chiefly consisting of globulins, and the latter of cholesterin and lecithin. 



In 1,000 parts of organic matter are found: 



Hemoglobin 905 .4 



Proteids 86. 7 



Fats 7.9 = 1,000 



Of the inorganic salts of the corpuscles, the iron omitted, there are present, 

 in 1,000 parts of corpuscles (Schmidt): 



Potassium chloride 3 . 679 



Potassium phosphate 2 . 343 



Potassium sulphate 132 



Sodium phosphate 633 



Calcium phosphate 094 



Magnesium phosphate 060 



Soda 341 7 . 282 



Hemoglobin. Of the substances in the erythrocytes, by far the 

 most important from every point of view is the pigment, hemoglobin. It 

 composes about 90 per cent of the total solids of the corpuscles; there- 

 fore, between 14 and 15 per cent of the blood itself. Hemoglobin is the most 

 complex compound in the body, having a molecule of the enormous molec- 

 ular weight of 16,669. Hemoglobin is intimately distributed throughout 

 the stromaof the corpuscle, and when dissolved out it undergoes crystallization. 



Its percentage composition is C 53.85; H 7.32; N 16.17; O 21.84; 

 S 0.63; Fe 0.42. Jacquet gives the empirical formula for the hemoglobin 

 of the dog, C 758 H 1203 N 19 5S 3 FeO 21 8. The most interesting of the properties 

 of hemoglobin are its powers of crystallizing and its attraction for oxygen 

 and other gases. 



Hemoglobin Crystals. The hemoglobin (oxyhemoglobin) of the blood of 

 various animals possesses the power of crystallizing to very different ex- 



