102 IMMEDIATE PRINCIPLES OF THE TISSUES. 



lated and, of course, modified condition. Its combining number 

 is 5175. (Mulder^ 



Iron is always found in combination with haematine ; but whether 

 in the state of an oxide or not, is not yet decided. It is, however, 

 not probable that the single equivalent of this metal is chemically 

 combined with the group of atoms representing pure haematine, 

 C 44 H 22 N 3 6 (Mulder), and it is demonstrated that iron may be ab- 

 /\ stracted from the haematine without affecting its bright red color. 

 It constitutes 6.64 per cent, of the haematine (Mulder), and .88 per 

 cent, of the dried red corpuscles (Berzelius)\ and about .05 per cent, 

 of the blood. Iron also exists in chyle and in the colorless parts of 

 the blood. 



Hazmatoidine (otherwise called xanthose) was first observed by 

 Virchow, and is found in amorphous or jagged masses, in granules, 

 in globules, or in perfectly formed crystals. It always occurs in 

 corpora lutea, and often in old extravasations in the brain, in obli- 

 terated veins, in subcutaneous suggillations, and in purulent abscess 

 of the extremities. ( Virchow.) It may be found in extravasations 

 at the end of seventeen to twenty days. Its crystals are of a yel- 

 lowish red, a red, or a ruby color. It is doubtless formed from 

 haematine, resulting from the metamorphosis of the latter. It has 

 also been stated that it may be formed from bilifulvin (p. 101). 



Origin. Nothing is known of the origin of haematine. It exists 

 in the thoracic duct, but may have entered it from the blood in the 

 mesenteric glands, or have come from the blood-corpuscles which 

 have passed into the chyle with the splenic lymph. 



Doubtless, however, the haematine is first formed within the mem- 

 brane of the colored blood-corpuscles; and the most probable hy- 

 pothesis is that of Lehmann, according to which haematine is formed 

 from fat, 1 by its oxidation. 



Uses. The constant occurrence of haematine in the blood-cor- 

 puscles of all the higher animals leaves no doubt of its importance, 

 but its precise use is not yet determined. It, however, gives to 

 blood the color by which we may at once distinguish it from all 

 the other animal fluids. It has also been supposed to be especially 

 connected with the respiratory process. The experiments of Briich 

 and Harless show that the inspired oxygen acts on the corpuscles 

 and their contents, and, of course, upon the haematine ; but what the 



1 Physiological Chemistry, vol. i. p. 273. 



