Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 151 



known volume of carbonic oxide, and by the action of sulphuric acid 

 at 100° I disengaged the same volume of gas. 



I must here make an important remark. If, instead of heating 

 to 100° the mixture of blood and sulphuric acid in an empty globe 

 communicating with the mercury pump, this mixture is heated in a 

 retort furnished with a delivery-tube, the temperature increases, and 

 then under the ordinary pressure a very considerable volume of 

 carbonic oxide is furnished by the decomposition of the albuminous 

 matter and of the hsemoglobine ; hence this more simple method 

 must be completely rejected. 



Having thus established a method by which the disengagement of 

 the carbonic oxide combined with hsemoglobine in the poisoned 

 blood is effected, I have been able to study the first phases of 

 poisoning. 



In a large bell-glass provided with a tubulure, a mixture of 9 litres 

 of air and 1 litre of pure carbonic oxide was made ; the tubulure of 

 the bell-glass is closed by a three-way stopcock, which I used in 

 measuring the volume of the lungs. The carotid artery of a dog 

 was exposed, and a glass tube inserted which is joined to a caout- 

 chouc tube closed by a pinch-cock ; a muzzle well fitted to the 

 head of the animal is united by a caoutchouc tube to the stopcock 

 of the bell. The animal at first breathes the air ; at the commence- 

 ment of a minute noted on a seconds' watch, I open the stopcock 

 of the bell ; the animal immediately inhales the poisonous gas ; be- 

 tween the 55th and 80th second after the commencement, I collect 

 in a syringe, fixed in the vent-pipe of the carotid, 50 cubic centime- 

 tres of arterial blood, which is immediately injected into the appa- 

 ratus for extracting the gas ; the gases of the blood are extracted 

 at 40°; then, by sulphuric acid at 100°, the carbonic oxide is ex- 

 tracted. The following are the results which have been furnished by 

 the poisoned blood, and also those given by a sample of normal 

 blood of the carotid submitted to exactly the same processes. 



Dry gases at zero and under a pressure of 760 millimetres. 



Carbonic Nitro- Carbonic 



acid. gen. Oxygen. oxide. 



100 cubic centimetres of poi- 1 . . , , - A 

 j „_4. :„i ui i r 4^*4 1*7 o*4 ID'U 



soned arterial blood 

 100 cubic centimetres of nor- 

 mal arterial blood 



37-6 1-7 16*6 00 



I repeated this experiment on another dog, but after having 

 arranged two apparatus for the extraction of the gases from the 

 blood, in which an absolute vacuum had first been made. The ani- 

 mal was connected in the same manner with the bell contain- 

 ing the mixture rendered poisonous by -^ of carbonic oxide ; but 

 some arterial blood was collected twice; the first was taken from the 

 10th to the 25th second, the second from the 75th to the 90th 



