20 



HEMOGLOBIN 



It may seem strange that such a discrepancy between the facts 

 and the interpretation put upon them could have passed unnoticed 

 for so many years. There is one fact which possibly goes some way 

 towards explaining the muddle and at the same time casts a flood 

 of light on the whole subject. We have said above that C34H3oN404FeOH 

 is the base obtained by the treatment of hsemin crystals with caustic 

 soda or caustic potash. Ammonia was also frequently used for the 

 liberation of the base for which purpose it is very good, but when 

 the base is reduced in the presence of excess of ammonia that alkali, 

 unlike KOH, has the further effect of uniting with the reduced hsematin 

 to form a corresponding hsemochromogen. Indeed, in the days of 



565 560 555 550 545 540 535 530 525 520 515 510 505 



J I I I I I _ I 1 I I ^ 



00 



in 



Globin 



in 



CM 



in 



00 



AlbuTnin 



o 



CM 



in 



Pyridine 



in I 



CMl 



in 



1^1 Nicotine 



in 



in 



I Piperidine 



o 

 CO 



CN 



in 



Ammonia 



Hydrazine hydrate 



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 Fig. 3. Position of maximum density of bands in spectra of certsdn hsemochromogens. 



more primitive spectrum analysis, the spectra of the ammonia body 

 and of the protein body might have passed for the same. To-day it 

 is clear that though not identical they are spectra of the same family. 

 The bands are of the same general character in both spectra but 

 their positions are somewhat different. Ammonia clearly has played 

 the role both of the strong alkali and of the globin. It has liberated 

 the base from the hsemin and, having Uberated it, has made with the 

 reduced hsematin a conjugated nitrogenous body. 



It is natural to suppose that if two bodies at the extreme ends 



