590 
DE. A. GrAMGrEE ON THE ACTION OF NITEITES ON BLOOD. 
C = 53-64 
H = 711 
N = 16-19 
S = 0-66 
Fe = 0-43 
O = 21-02 
C = 53-85 
H = 7-32 
N = 16-17 
S = 0-39 
Fe = 0-43 
O = 21-84 
3. The colouring-matter exists in blood in combination with oxygen; this oxygen 
cannot be discovered by pyrogallic acid 1 , nor is its absorption by the colouring-matter 
regulated by Dalton and Henry’s law of absorption 2 . The combination is, however, 
of a loose character, and is broken up by the addition of reducing-solutions to blood 3 , 
as well as by boiling blood, or merely exposing it in a Toricellian vacuum 4 . The blood- 
colouring-matter freed from its loose oxygen differs from the oxidized substance, (a) in 
colour 5 , ( b ) in its absorption-spectrum 6 . To this substance the names of reduced or 
purple cruorine 7 and reduced haemoglobin 8 have been given. 
4. By passing hydrogen, carbonic acid, or laughing-gas through blood the oxygen 
is expelled, i. e. the colouring-matter is reduced 9 . Blood which has been reduced by 
hydrogen or carbonic acid may be made to furnish crystals of reduced haemoglobin, 
which are isomorphous with those of the oxidized body, but which differ from it in 
colour and in optical characters when examined with the spectroscope 10 . 
5. “We may infer from the facts above mentioned that the colouring-matter of blood, 
like indigo, is capable of existing in two states of oxidation, distinguishable by a differ- 
ence of colour and a fundamental difference in the action on the spectrum. It may be 
made to pass from the more to the less oxidized state by the action of suitable reducing 
agents, and recovers its oxygen by absorption from the air” (Stokes) n . 
6. The loosely combined oxygen of the colouring-matter may be expelled by carbonic 
oxide gas 12 ; one volume of carbonic oxide takes the place of one volume of oxygen 13 . 
The compound thus formed differs from the O-compound in not yielding a less oxygen- 
ized substance when treated with suitable reducing agents 14 . It possesses an absorp- 
1 Bernard, Proprietes des liquides de l’organisme, t. i. p. 337 (1859). 
2 Lothar Meter, “Die gase des Blutes,” Zeitschrift f. rat. Med. Bd. VIII. p. 257 (1857). 
3 Stokes, op. tit. 
4 Hoppe-Seyler, Med.-chemisch. Untersuchungen, zweites Heft, p. 191. 
5 Stokes, Proceedings of Roy al Society, loc. tit. 6 Ibid. 7 Ibid. 
8 Kuhne, Lehrbucli der Physiologischen Chemie, 1866, zweites Lieferung, p. 218. 
9 Kuhne, op. tit., zw. Lief. p. 210. L. Hermann, “ Ueber die wirkungen des Stickoxydgases auf das Blut,” 
Muller’s Arcbiv, 1865, p. 470. 10 Kuhne, op. tit. p. 218. 
11 Stokes, Proceedings of the Royal Society, vol. xiii. p. 357, paragraph 8. 
12 Claude Bernard, Legons sur les effets des substances toxiques et medicamenteuses. Paris, 1857, p. 158. 
Proprietes des liq. de l’organisme, vol. i. p. 365. 
13 De sanguine oxydo carbonico infecto. Auctor Lothar Meter, Diss. Inaug. Chym. Vratislavise 1858- 
“ Ueber die Einwirkung des Kohlenoxydgas auf Blut,” Zeitschrift f. rat. Med. Dritte Reihe. V. Band. 1859, p. 82. 
14 Hoppe-Seyler, Zeitschrift fur Anal. Chemie, vol. iii. p. 439. 
