1904.] Properties of Solutions of Chloroform in Water, etc. 411 



As an example, an experiment with serum shaken up with a mixture 

 of air and carbon-dioxide may be quoted : — 



A volume of 500 c.c. of serum was exhausted as above described. 



(a) A volume of 150 c.c. of this serum was poured into a 500 c.c. 

 stoppered bottle, and shaken up with a mixture of air and carbon- 

 dioxide. 



Exhaustion and analysis of the gases in 70 c.c. gave the following 

 results at 14° C. and 759 mm. : — 



COo 41-2 c.c, O = 1-4 c.c. N = 5'4 c.c. 



(b) A second volume of 150 c.c. of the exhausted serum treated 

 exactly similar, but with 1*5 grammes of chloroform added, gave the 

 following results from 70 c.c, at the same temperature and pressure : — 



COo 41-4 c.c, O = 1-8 c.c N = 6-4 c.c 



There was obviously a slight leakage of air, but the figures are 

 sufficient to show that there is no appreciable change in the solubilities 

 due to the presence of the chloroform. 



Summary and Conclusions. 



1. We believe that the experiments recorded above justify the 

 conclusion that chloroform forms an unstable chemical compound or 

 physical aggregation with the proteicls experimented with, and that it 

 is carried in the blood in such a state of combination. Since proteids 

 build up the protoplasm of living cells, it appears to us probable that 

 chloroform, and other anaesthetics, must form similar combinations 

 with protoplasm, and that anaesthesia is due to the formation of such 

 compounds which limit the chemical activities of the protoplasm. 

 The compounds are unstable, and remain formed only so long as the 

 pressure of the anaesthetic in the solution is maintained. Such 

 compounds are formed not only by haemoglobin but by serum 

 proteid, and hence the position taken by the anaesthetic in haemoglobin 

 is not that of the respiratory oxygen. This is further shown by the 

 fact that the oxygen-carrying power of haemoglobin is not interfered 

 with in presence of chloroform. 



The effect of chloroform upon various forms of protoplasm will form 

 the subject of future experiments. 



The facts upon which we rely as proofs of the formation of a 

 compound or aggregation between chloroform and serum proteid or 

 haemoglobin may be summarised as follows : — 



(a) Chloroform has a much higher solubility in serum or haemoglobin 

 solutions than in saline or water. 



(b) Even in dilute solutions at the same pressure the amount of 

 chloroform dissolved in serum or haemoglobin solution is considerably 

 higher than in saline or water. 



