CHAPTER XIII 



THE KINETICS OF OXYHEMOGLOBIN 

 IN DILUTE SOLUTIONS 



JN ow to return to theoretical considerations. At the commencement 

 of the previous chapter we showed that one theory at least of the 

 union of oxygen with haemoglobin required that the equilibrium curve 

 should be a rectangular hyperbola. The theory was that a simple 

 reaction took place between one molecule of oxygen and one molecule 



%Q2Hh 



A- 6 



Pressure in A[m 



Fig. 39. 



of reduced haemoglobin, following the laws of mass action. This is 

 not the only theory which might lead to a hyperbolic equilibrium 

 curve — the point is that this theory can lead to no other. The argu- 

 ment which led us up to our conclusion assumed that the equiUbrium 

 constant of the reaction K was the ratio of two velocity constants, 

 k' and k ; the former represented the rate at which oxyhaemoglobin 

 broke down into oxygen and haemoglobin, the latter the rate in the 



