1911.] 



On the Fate of Red Blood Corpuscles, etc. 



The accuracy of these determinations can obviously be controlled by an 

 estimation of the amount of haemoglobin liberated, and the employment of a 

 suitable hsemoglobinometer, which we unfortunately did not have at our 

 disposal, might save the laborious counts involved in a Thoma-Zeiss 

 examination. 1 



The results of these experiments emphasise in a most striking manner tlie 

 marked individuality of the red blood corpuscles, and we see that the injected 

 corpuscles are not merely not accepted by their host, but are regarded as 

 definitely foreign, and in fact functionate as antigens, and give rise to the 

 formation of corresponding antibodies in accordance with the general laws 

 of immunity. The bearing of these facts on transfusion as practised in 

 medicine is obvious. 



Another interesting point in these transfusion experiments is that they 

 give us the necessar3 r data for the determination of the total mass of the 

 blood in the transfused animals, and this method would appear to have 

 the advantage of a very considerable degree of exactitude, as the latter is 

 only limited by the errors of the Thoma-Zeiss apparatus. As this was not 

 the purpose of our experiments, in most cases the amount of blood injected 

 into the animals was not accurately measured, but three bulls which did 

 receive accurately measured volumes of blood gave results showing the total 

 mass of the blood to be 1/17'3, 1/17-0, 1/18"7 respectively of the total body 

 weight, assuming the sp. gr. of the blood to be 1050. 



The animal experiments in the above work were made at the Government 

 Serum Institute at Abbassia, and we are indebted to Mr. Gordon, Veterinary 

 Surgeon to the Institute, for much valuable help in carrying them out. 



Conclusions. 



1. The employment of specifically exhausted isohsemolytic sera affords a 

 method of quantitatively analysing mixtures of the red blood corpuscles of 

 different individuals of the same species. 



2. By means of this method it is possible to follow out the red blood 

 corpuscles of one individual when these are injected into the circulation of 

 another animal of the same species. 



3. When examined by these methods it is found that the injected 

 corpuscles are treated by their host as foreign, and in fact act as antigens, and 

 give rise to the formation of corresponding antibodies in accordance with the 

 ordinary laws of immunity. 



4. Transfusion experiments investigated by this method gave relatively 

 accurate data for the estimation of the total mass of the blood. 



