174 BLOOD. 



of bicarbonate of soda, a very light vermilion-coloured fluid was 

 obtained ; the blood-corpuscles were very much contracted, and, 

 after 35 minutes, began to sink. After 24 hours the colour was 

 still of an equally light red, the blood-corpuscles had sunk to the 

 extent of about l-10th of the volume, and the serum was clear and 

 colourless. 



1 volume of blood mixed with 0'8 of a volume of a solution of 

 ferrocyanide of potassium, presented precisely the same characters 

 as the preceding mixture ; the corpuscles began to sink after 

 50 minutes. After 18 hours about l-18th of the volume of the 

 serum was clear and colourless. 



1 volume of blood, on the addition of 0*7 of a volume of a 

 solution of borax, became of a very light red colour ; the blood- 

 corpuscles were contracted to almost the same extent as by the 

 previous salts, and, after 24 hours, had sunk to the extent of about 

 1-1 5th of the volume of the fluid ; the serum was clear, but 

 reddish. 



Blood treated with half its volume of a solution of iodide of 

 potassium became of a light vermilion colour, and its corpuscles 

 were much contracted and biscuit-shaped ; they began to sink in 

 the course of an hour. After 18 hours they had sunk to the extent 

 of about l-25th of the volume of the fluid ; the serum was reddish 

 and turbid, and very distinctly separated from the clot ; the whole 

 fluid was of rather a darker red than fresh unmixed blood ; it was, 

 moreover, gelatinous and ropy; the blood- corpuscles had lost their 

 discoid shape, and were spherical, but were much smaller than 

 previously, and some of them were very much distorted and jagged. 



100 volumes of blood assumed a light vermilion colour on 

 being mixed with 44 volumes of a solution of sulphocyanide of 

 potassium; the blood-corpuscles were contracted, and began to 

 sink in the course of 34 minutes. Tn 24 hours the fluid assumed 

 a blackish brown colour; the corpuscles had now only sunk 

 through l-10th of the volume, but at the same time the serum was 

 reddish and transparent ; the clot formed a dark blackish brown, 

 transparent, clear, perfectly liquid mass, in which no morphological 

 element could be recognised with the microscope. 



On the addition of 0*6 of a volume of a solution of chloride of 

 calcium (I part of the salt to 12 of water) to 1 volume of blood, a 

 light red colour was produced, although not so light as with most 

 of the alkaline salts ; after an hour the blood-corpuscles began to 

 sink and to contract. After 18 hours there was no further trace of 

 sinking ; the corpuscles were then enlarged in their long diameter, 



