1904] Properties of Solutions of Chloroform in Water, etc. 385 



cell was due to some combination being formed between the proto- 

 plasm and the chloroform, and further that this combination was not a 

 stable fixed one, leading to permanent removal of the protoplasmic 

 activity, but an unstable one, which existed only so long as the 

 pressure of the anaesthetic was kept up to a definite level, and 

 gradually dissociated as the level of chloroform pressure was allowed 

 to fall, and as a result left the protoplasm free for a renewal of its 

 metabolic processes — to choose a familiar analogy, that the protoplasm 

 of a cell undergoing anaesthetisation entered into a combination with the 

 anaesthetic, similar to that between haemoglobin and oxygen, unstable 

 in character, and only lasting so long as the pressure of the anaesthetic 

 was kept up. 



It occurred to us, as protoplasm is built up chemically of proteid, 

 that a certain amount of evidence as to the formation of such an 

 unstable compound might be obtained, in the first instance, by 

 experimenting with proteids. 



We accordingly experimented with the proteids of the blood, and 

 have obtained a number of results which together point to the 

 formation of such compounds as are indicated above. 



It is our intention to proceed further and study in a similar fashion 

 the effects of chloroform upon various types of living cell, but we here 

 present the work done upon proteids, which appears to us to prove 

 that an easily dissociable compound is formed between proteid and 

 chloroform. 



Our experiments may be described under the following headings :— 



1. On the obvious physical and chemical changes produced in serum 

 and in haemoglobin solution by the addition of chloroform. 



2. On the relative solubility of chloroform in water, normal saline 

 solution, serum, and haemoglobin solution. 



3. On the relative vapour pressures of chloroform when dissolved in 

 water, saline, serum, and haemoglobin solutions respectively, and on 

 the variations in the coefficient of distribution in these solutions. 



4. On the solubilities of gases in serum and haemoglobin solution in 

 presence of chloroform. 



I. — Effects of Chloroform on Serum and on Hemoglobin Solution. 



On adding chloroform* to either serum or haemoglobin solution, and 

 allowing the mixture to stand, changes occur which are obvious to the 

 eye, and were to us previously unknown, but on consulting the 

 literature we found that they had been observed by E. Salkowskif in 



* The chloroform used for all the experiments described in this communication 

 was presented to us by Messrs. Duncan and Flockhart, of Edinburgh. 



f 'Deutsche Med. Wochensch.,' 1888, No. 16; ' Zeitsch. f. Physiol. Chem.,' 

 vol. 31, 1900, p. 329. The fact that the red blood corpuscles combine with chloro- 

 form is also mentioned by Schmiedeberg, 1 Arch, f . Heilkunde,' 1867, p. 273. 



