280 THE BLOOD. 



Thus far there does not seem to be any necessity for considering the 

 gas combination in the blood and in haemoglobin solutions to be adsorp- 

 tion processes as suggested by W. OsTWALD. 1 



That the gas combining ability of an isolated pure haemoglobin cannot 

 be compared with the gas combining ability of the so-called native haemo- 

 globin of the blood has been suggested by many experimenters. In this 

 connection we must mention the observations of MANCHOT 2 who found 

 that the combining ability of the blood for gases such as 02, CO,NO,C2H4 

 could be increased at least to a certain limit by increasing the dilution 

 so that at 8-10 times the dilution the combining power was close to the 

 limit value of 2 mol. gas for each atom of iron. 



The elucidation of these mentioned conditions is of the greatest 

 importance, as the knowledge of the various conditions which influence 

 the taking up and the giving up of oxygen by the haemoglobin is of the 

 greatest importance for our knowledge of the taking up of oxygen in the 

 lungs and the giving up of the same to the tissues. 



Oxyhaemoglobin which is generally considered as a weak acid, is 

 according to GAMGEE, S dextrorotatory. The specific rotation for light 

 of medium wave-length of C is (a) C = about +10, which corresponds 

 also for carbon-monoxide haemoglobin. The haemoglobin is also, like 

 carbon-monoxide haemoglobin (COHb) and methaemoglobin (MHb), 

 diamagnetic, while the haematin, which is richer in iron, is strongly mag- 

 netic (GAMGEE 4 ). On passing an electric current through an oxyhaemo- 

 globin solution, the pigment first separates unchanged at the anode in a 

 colloidal but still soluble form, and is then gradually transferred to the 

 cathode in the colloidal state (GAMGEE 5 ) . According to GAMGEE, the 

 haemoglobin probably exists in such a colloidal condition in the blood- 

 corpuscles. 



Oxyhaemoglobin has been obtained in crystals from several varieties 

 of blood. These crystals are blood-red, transparent, silky, and may 

 be 2-3 mm. long. The Oxyhaemoglobin from squirrel's blood crystallizes 

 in six-sided plates of the hexagonal system; the other varieties of blood 

 yield needles, prisms, tetrahedra, or plates which belong to the rhombic 

 system. 6 The quantity of water of crystallization varies between 



1 Barcroft with Camis, Journ. of Physiol., 39; with Roberts, ibid.; W. Ostwald, 

 Kolloid-Zeitschr., 2, cited in Maly's Jahresb., 38, 187. 



2 Annal. d. Chem. u. Pharm. ; 370 and Zeitschr. f. physiol. Chem., 70. 



3 Hofmeister's Beitrage, 4. 



4 Proceedings of Roy. Society, 68. 



5 Ibid., 70. 



6 The observation of Uhlik (Pfliiger's Arch., 104) that the haemoglobin from horse- 

 blood can also crystallize in hexagonal plates seems to be due to the fact that he had 

 haemoglobin and not Oxyhaemoglobin. 



