1901-2.] The Condition of the Iron in the Spleen. 
23 
refractive, and when unstained, of a greenish-yellow colour. 
They may often be observed as if they were in process of coales- 
cence to form larger masses, which, along with the many peculiar 
forms they assume, give one the impression that they are viscid 
and semifluid in consistence. They seem to resemble closely the 
bodies described as stromata exuded from red blood corpuscles by 
Dr William Hunter.* 
II. Intra-cellular iron is found in the spleens of both rabbits 
and sheep. 
The iron-containing cells of the sheep are much smaller than 
those of the rabbit. In both cases, however, the iron-containing 
substance is in the form of more or less discrete granules, and 
there is also, in some cases, a diffuse staining of the protoplasm. 
Some cells contain vacuoles, but only in rare instances have I 
observed blood corpuscles enclosed therein. 
These are the leading points which I have observed so far as 
regards the presence of the iron. The presence within cells led 
me to carry out at the same time investigations into the proteids 
of the spleen, to ascertain whether iron existed in combination 
with such proteids. The methods and results were as follows. 
(B) Chemical. 
Iron- containing substances in the spleen. 
Four or five fresh spleens were minced up, pounded with sand 
and a 5 per cent, solution of chloride of sodium, and the fluid was 
then squeezed out by pressure in a meat press. 
The turbid haemoglobin-stained fluid so obtained, when mixed 
with an equal volume of a saturated solution of ammonium 
sulphate, gave a copious precipitate, which was filtered off — (Pre- 
cipitate A). The filtrate was perfectly clear and deeply coloured 
by haemoglobin — (Filtrate A). 
The precipitate was redissolved by the addition of water, the 
resulting solution being very opalescent, hut in thin layers it was 
sufficiently transparent to admit of any coagulation being readily 
noticed. By fractional coagulation two substances were separated 
out, one at about 50° C., the other at from about 60°-70° C. Of 
* Hunter, Pernicious Anaemia. London, 1901. 
