MIRACLES OF SCIENCE 



On the other hand, the alpha rays, which consist of 

 electrified molecules of helium, produced important 

 changes in the various constituents of the blood. 



The red blood corpuscles, under influence of the 

 alpha rays, were dissolved and their essential color- 

 ing matter, known as oxy-haemoglobin, the oxygen- 

 carrying principle of the blood, was changed into 

 met-haemoglobin. This would destroy the capacity 

 of the blood as a carrier of oxygen. 



In a somewhat similar way the white blood cor- 

 puscles were seen to undergo marked degenerative 

 changes under influence of the alpha rays. During 

 the process of clotting, the white blood corpuscles 

 appeared to move away from the alpha radiating 

 region. This movement is theoretically explained as 

 due to changes in the surface tension of blood serum 

 when radiated. 



Not only were the corpuscular elements of the 

 blood thus destroyed, but the specific properties of 

 the blood serum through which normal blood com- 

 bats the influence of bacteria, were rapidly exhausted 

 under influence of the alpha rays. Thus the substance 

 known as opsonin, the function of which is to make 

 bacteria more readily digestible by the white blood 

 corpuscles, ceased to exercise its characteristic prop- 

 erty. In a word, the effect of the radiation was to 

 change completely the character of the blood, and 

 utterly to eliminate the qualities upon which its "life- 

 giving" influence depends. 



It is interesting to compare these effects of radium 

 radiation with the observations of those experiment- 

 ers, notably Mr. John Butler Burke of Cambridge 



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