566 



Function of the Red Corpuscles in Chloroform Anesthesia. 



By George A. Buckmaster, Assistant Professor of Physiology, Univei^ity 

 College, University of London, and J. A. Gardner, Lecturer on 

 Physiological Chemistry, University of London. 



(Communicated by Dr. A. D. Waller, F.R.S. Received March 12, — Read 



April 18, 1907.) 



(From the Physiological Laboratory of the University of London.) 

 It has been conclusively shown by Pohl,* Mcloux,"j* Moore and RoafJ and 

 ourselves § that when chloroform is associated with the blood, the bulk of 

 the drug is held by the red corpuscles. It would appear, therefore, highly 

 probable that in chloroform anaesthesia the transport from and to the surface 

 of the lungs is a function of the red corpuscles. In order to throw more 

 light on this point, we have investigated the effect of the variations in the 

 volume of blood in circulation on the duration of anaesthesia and on the 

 percentage of chloroform in the blood. 



Removal of blood, other conditions being constant, should not alter the 

 percentage of chloroform in the blood. Several causes might separately or 

 together prevent the conditions being constant, and therefore bring about 

 deviations from the above conclusion. 



1. The gradual entrance into the blood of extra-vascular liquid. According 

 to Starling,|| " the fluids contained in the tissue spaces possess the same 

 tonicity and the same composition in salts as the blood-plasma." If, there- 

 fore, the extra- vascular fluids entered the blood-stream instantly to an amount, 

 equal to that of the blood withdrawn, the percentage of chlorine in the blood 

 would only be slightly raised, because the corpuscles contain a somewhat 

 lower percentage of chlorine than the plasma.lf The restoration of the 

 volume after haemorrhage is known to be a gradual process, and during the 

 time and under the conditions of our experiments could not have taken place 

 to any marked extent. Therefore the variations in the chlorine-content of 

 the blood would be practically negligible, and well within the errors of 

 experiment. This conclusion was repeatedly confirmed in the course of our 

 experiments by analyses made at the beginning, before and after bleeding. 



2. An entrance of red corpuscles into the blood-stream, consequent on, 



* ' Archiv f. exp. Path. u. Pharmak.,' vol. 28, 1890—1891. 



t ' Comptes Rendus,' Nos. 2, 3, 7, 1906. 



% « Roy. Soc. Proc./ vol. 73, 1904. 



§ 4 Roy. Soc. Proc.,' B, vol. 78, 1906. 



|| 'Journal of Physiology,' vol. 19, No. 4, 1896. 



H Buckmaster and Gardner, ' Roy. Soc. Proc.,' B, vol. 78, 1906. 



