REACTION OF THE BLOOD. 297 



pathological, v. JAKSCH found the quantity of alkali in man to vary 

 between 3.38 and 3.90 p. m., and BRANDENBURG found 3 p. m. NaOH 

 ( = 3.98 p. m. Na 2 CO 3 ). The alkaline reaction diminishes outside of the 

 body, and indeed the more quickly the greater the original alkalinity 

 of the blood. This depends on the formation of acid in the blood, in 

 which the red-blood corpuscles seem to take part in some way or another. 

 After excessive muscular activity the alkalinity is diminished (PEIPER, 

 COHNSTEIN), and it is also decreased after the continuous ingestion of 

 acids (LASSAR, FREUDBERG 1 ). According to the investigations of 

 ALLERS and BONDI 2 , on poisoning rabbits with hydrochloric acid, the 

 relation of the lime to the other bases changes by a relative increase in 

 the lime. 



Numerous investigations have been made in regard to the alkalinity 

 of the blood in disease, but as there is at present no trustworthy method 

 for estimating the alkalinity of the blood, and as the results are dependent 

 upon the indicator used, these investigations, as also the claims in 

 regard to the physiological alkalinity, require further substantiation. 3 

 Attention must also be called to what was stated (page 264) in regard 

 to the determination of the alkalinity of blood-serum that determina- 

 tions are made only of the titratable alkali and not of the true alkalinity 

 caused by hydroxyl ions. This alkalinity, as previously remarked, is 

 so very slight that the blood is considered as a nearly neutral fluid. As 

 explained by L. HENDERSON, 4 the carbon dioxide, the alkali carbonate 

 and the mono- and di-phosphates are of especially great importance for 

 this condition as well as for the regulation of the reaction of the blood. 



The alkali of the blood exists in part as alkaline salts, carbonate 

 and phosphate, and partly in combination with protein or haemoglobin. 

 The first are often spoken of as readily diffusible alkalies, while the others 

 are not or are only diffusible with difficulty (see page 261). The quan- 

 tity of the first in human blood is about one-fifth of the total alkali 



1 Loewy, Pfl tiger's Arch., 58, which also contains the references to the literature; 

 H. Strauss, Zeitschr. f. klin. Med., 30; v. Jaksch, ibid., 13; Peiper, Virchow's Arch., 

 116; Cohnstein, ibid., 130, which also cites the works of Minkowski, Zuntz, and Gep- 

 pert; Freudberg, ibid., 125. See also Weiss, Zeitschr. f. physiol. Chem., 38; Branden- 

 burg, Zeitschr. f. klin. Med., 45. 



2 Biochem. Zeitschr., 6. 



3 In regard to the methods for the estimation of the alkalinity see, besides the 

 above-mentioned authors, v. Jaksch, Klin. Diagnostik; v. Limteck, Wien. med. 

 Blatter, 18; Wright, The Lancet, 1897; Biernacki, Beitrage zur Pneumatologie, etc., 

 Zeitschr. f. klin. Med., 31 and 32; Hamburger, Eine Methode zur Trennung, etc., 

 Arch. f. (Anat. u.) Physiol, 1898. See also Maly's Jahresber., 29, 30, and 31; Salaskin 

 and Pupkin, Zeitschr. f. physiol. Chem., 42, and O. Folin, ibid., 43; Laitinen, Ham- 

 marsten's Festschr., 1906; Westenrijk, Arch. f. exp. Path. u. Pharm. Suppl., 1908, 

 Schmiedeberg-Festschrift. 



4 Amer. Journ. of Physiol., 21 (1908). 



