506 
Alkalinity  of  the  Blood. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm 
1  November,  1903. 
advantage  of  being  so  ground  as  to  afford  a  magnifying  surface,  in 
this  respect  resembling  the  clinical  thermometer.  This  stopper  and 
the  contained  blood  pipette  are  fitted  into  a  clear  glass  test  tube 
(Fig.  i,  A)  containing  3  c.c,  the  upper  end  of  which  is  expanded 
into  a  bulb  containing  on  its  side  a  minute  opening  (Fig.  1,  C)  for 
the  purpose  of  admitting  air.  The  top  of  the  bulb  is  placed  close 
to  the  stopper,  allowing  the  capillary  tube  to  pass  to  the  centre  of 
the  bulb,  this  situation  being  selected  as  preventing  an  adherence 
of  the  blood  between  the  sides  of  the  test  tube  and  the  capillary 
pipette.  The  test  tube  is  graduated  in  cubic  centimeters,  and  the 
equivalent  in  milligrams  of  NaOH  to  100  c.c.  of  blood  also  repre- 
sented. 
The  second  part  of  the  instrument,  the  reagent  pipette,  consists  of 
an  appliance  made  of  a  glass  tube  terminating  with  a  rubber  bulb 
and  having  at  its  other  extremity  a  piece  of  rubber  tubing  which 
fits  over  the  sharpened  end  of  the  capillary  blood  pipette  previously 
described.  In  conjunction  with  this  instrument,  a  spectroscope 
should  be  used,  the  Browning  pocket  spectroscope  answering  all 
purposes. 
The  test  solution  to  be  employed  is  made  up  as  follows : 
Acid  tartaric  (Merck's  reagent)  gr.  j   '075  gin. 
Alcohol,  3v   •  20  c.c. 
Aqua  destil.,  q.  s. ,  5vj   '200  c.c. 
°'375  to  a  litre       of  normal. 
The  alcohol  is  added  to  prevent  the  formation  of  fungous  growth, 
but  not  in  sufficient  quantity  to  precipitate  the  albumin  of  the  blood 
in  any  morbid  condition. 
Method  of  Employing  the  Instrument. — A  drop  of  blood  is  obtained 
from  the  finger  tip  or  lobe  o(  the  ear  in  the  usual  manner.  The 
test  tube  is  held  horizontally,  and  its  contained  blood  pipette  fills 
automatically  by  capillary  attraction  when  the  sharpened  end  is 
touched  to  the  blood-drop  as  it  emerges  from  the  wound.  With  an 
ordinary  minim  pipette,  with  a  piece  of  rubber  tubing  over  the  free 
extremity  into  the  test  tube,  wash  this  column  of  blood  with  dis- 
tilled water  up  to  the  point  O  (zero),  which  is  the  first  division  from 
the  bottom,  holding  the  test  tube  vertically.  Close  the  opening  in 
the  bulb  of  the  test  tube  with  the  thumb  and  invert  the  tube 
several  times,  to  cause  a  thorough  mixing  of  the  blood  and  water. 
The  reagent  pipette  is  filled  with  the  acid  reagent,  and  the  rubber 
