H^MAGLOBINE. 



17 



puscles, which latter are particularly rich in the salts of potassa. Iron exists in the col- 

 oring matter of the corpuscles. In addition, the corpuscles contain cholesterine, lece- 

 thine, a certain amount of fatty matter, and probably some of the organic saline princi- 

 ples of the blood. 



Globuline. Rollett, by alternately freezing and thawing blood several times in succes- 

 sion in a platinum vessel, has succeeded in separating the coloring matter from the red cor- 

 puscles. When the blood is afterward warmed and liquefied, the fluid is no longer opaque, 

 but is dark and transparent. Microscopical examination then reveals the corpuscles, entire- 

 ly decolorized and floating in a red, semitransparent serum. Denis extracted the organic 

 principle of the corpuscles by adding to defibrinated blood about one-half its volume of 

 a solution of chloride of sodium containing one part in ten of water. Allowing this to 

 stand for from ten to fifteen hours, there appears a viscid mass, which is very carefully 

 washed with water until all the coloring matter and the salt added has been removed. 

 The whitish, translucid mass which remains is called globuline. Denis has also ex- 

 tracted a small quantity of fibrin from the corpuscles. Globuline is readily extracted 

 from the blood of birds, but is obtained with difficulty from the blood of the human 

 subject. 



Hcemagloline. This is the coloring matter of the red corpuscles. It has been called 

 by different writers, hfemaglobuline or hsematocrystalline ; but the crystals called hsema- 

 tine and hsematosine are derivatives of ha3maglobine and are not true proximate princi- 

 ples. HaBmaglobine may be extracted from the red corpuscles by adding to them, when 

 congealed, ether, drop by drop. A jelly-like mass is then formed, which is passed rap- 

 idly through a cloth, crystals soon appearing in the liquid, which may be separated by 

 filtration. (Gautier.) 



The crystals of hsemaglobine extracted from human blood are in the form of four- 

 sided prisms, elongated rhomboids, or rectangular tablets, of a purplish-red color. They 

 are composed of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulphur, and a small quantity of 

 iron. They are soluble in water and in very dilute alkaline solutions, and the haamaglo- 

 bine is precipitated from these solutions by ferrocyanide of potassium, nitrate of mer- 

 cury, chlorine, or acetic acid. The proportion of this coloring matter to the entire mass 

 of blood is about one hundred and twenty-seven parts per thousand. It constitutes 

 from if to . T 9 of the dried corpuscles. A solution of hsemaglobine in one thousand 

 parts, examined with the spectroscope, gives two dark bands between the letters D and 

 E in Frauenhofer's scale. 



Treated with oxygen or prepared in fluids in contact with the air, there occurs a 

 union of oxygen with the coloring matter, forming what has been called oxyhajmaglobine. 

 There can be no doubt that the oxygen enters into an intimate, though rather unstable 

 combination with hsemaglobine, and this is an important point to be considered in con- 

 nection with the absorption of oxygen by the blood in respiration. A solution of oxy- 

 hsemaglobine presents a different spectrum from a solution of pure haBmaglobine. If 

 we examine a solution of oxyhsemaglobine with the spectroscope and then discharge 

 the oxygen by prolonged ebullition in a vacuum, the characteristic bands of pure hsema- 

 globine make their appearance. The union of oxygen with haemaglobine is unstable and 

 the oxgen can be removed by a current of hydrogen, nitrous oxide, or carbonic acid. A 

 current of carbonic oxide displaces the oxygen, and the carbonic oxide forms a very sta- 

 ble combination with the coloring matter. It is well known that carbonic oxide is a 

 very poisonous gas, which becomes fixed in the corpuscles so that they become inca- 

 pable of absorbing oxygen. 



According to recent observations, oxygen combined with haemaglobine exists in the 

 condition of ozone. A solution of oxyhsemaglobine is readily decomposed by a current 

 of sulphuretted hydrogen, forming, like ozone, water and a precipitate of sulphur. 

 2 



