124 



Drs. H. Chambers and S. Russ. Action of [May 1, 



boiled with dilute acid in order to hydrolise the glucoside, considerable 

 oxidation, accompanied by brown coloration, will take place. 



Palladin* maintains that the formation of post-mortem pigments from 

 aromatic chromogens is proof of the significance of the latter in respiration. 

 Some of the plants from which he obtained the greatest quantity of pigment 

 by treatment of the extracts with peroxidase and hydroxyl are of the pyro- 

 catechin-containing type, and the presence of this phenol, when it occurs, 

 would doubtless accelerate the oxidation of the extracts. But the reactions 

 obtained after death may be no real guide to knowledge of the true metabolic 

 reactions of the living tissues. 



The formation of brown pigment on autolysis and injury in pyrocatechin- 

 containing plants is no doubt largely due to the oxidation of the phenol 

 itself, but, in addition, coloration may be caused by the oxidation of other 

 aromatic compounds, i.e. tannins, flavones, etc., when once the system 

 peroxide-peroxidase has been established. 



The Action of Radium Radiations upon Some of the Main 

 Constituents of Normal Blood. 

 By Helen Chambers, M.D., and S. Euss, D.Sc, Beit Memorial Eesearch 

 Fellow. 



(Communicated by Dr. J. E. Bradford, Sec. E.S. Eeceived May 1, — Eead 

 June 1, 1911.) 



The following experiments were undertaken with a view to determining 

 the effect in vitro of the different radiations from radioactive substances upon 

 some of the main constituents of normal blood. The observations have so far 

 been extended to the haemolytic action of the a-rays on red corpuscles, to the 

 effect of these rays on leucocytes, and to their action on opsonin and com- 

 plement. Numerous experiments have also been made with the /3- and 

 7-rays, but, generally speaking, the results have been of a negative 

 character. 



The Haemolytic Action of the Emanation. 

 When radium emanation is mixed with citrated human blood, haemolysis 

 results. The liberation of haemoglobin is a gradual process, as is evidenced 



* Palladin, "Uber das Wesen der Pflanzenatmung," 'Biochem. Zeitsch.,' 1909. 



