398 LECTURE XVII. 



possible that in the above-mentioned experiments in which iron was added 

 to the milk, there was not much effect on the amount of hemoglobin 

 formed, because there was an insufficient supply of the other building 

 material out of which hemoglobin is formed. Again, we have up to this 

 point left out of consideration the fact that besides hematin, there is 

 another component of hemoglobin, namely globin, which is an albumin 

 substance of highly complicated structure. The formation of the hemo- 

 globin molecule is complete only after the hematin has united with the 

 globin molecule. 



Enough has been said to show that the formation of hemoglobin does 

 not solve the question as to the part that iron plays in its formation. The 

 kernel of the whole question has not yet been attacked. We cannot hope 

 for a solution of the problem until we understand clearly the formation of 

 hematin. The mere fact that the addition of iron to nutriment poor in 

 iron does not have any distinct influence upon the formation of hemo- 

 globin, in no way speaks against the participation of inorganic iron in the 

 synthesis of hemoglobin in the case of normal nutrition, but it indicates 

 that the other building material is wanting as well as the iron. Further- 

 more, the fact that when the animal passes over to a form of nourishment 

 richer in iron, there is a rapid increase in the extent of the hemoglobin 

 formation, is explained not only by the increased amount of iron in the 

 food, but as well by the fact that the other material required for the pro- 

 duction of this substance is likewise available to a much greater extent. 



Let us now return to chlorosis. We must first of all emphasize the fact 

 that the anaemia produced by an exclusively milk diet, or by loss of blood, 

 has nothing whatever to do with the disease in which there is an impov- 

 erishment of the blood. In the case of typical chlorosis, the composition of 

 the blood is abnormal in spite of the fact that there has been available a 

 sufficient supply of substances which take part in the formation of blood. 

 It is characteristic of the disease that it occurs in the full-bloodedness of 

 the female organism's development, in the years of puberty, and it 

 gradually disappears without any change in the nourishment sufficient 

 to account for the correction of the disorder. One gets the impres- 

 sion that demands are suddenly made upon the blood-forming organs 

 which it is not able to satisfy. It would be easy to conceive that the 

 blood losses brought about by menstruation are the cause of the increased 

 demands upon the hematopoietic system. It has been shown, however, 

 that the amount of iron lost in the flow of blood during menstruation * is 

 very slight, and need hardly be taken into consideration. Bunge, from his 

 observations that the suckling was born with a store of iron, made the 

 suggestion that the organism, in order to be able to give up this supply of 

 iron, must begin to store up iron before the time of conception, so that it 



1 Hoppe-Seyler, Brodersen and Rudolph: Z. physiol. Chem. 42, 545 (1904). 



