I. A Contribution to the knowledge of Hæmoglobin

Abstract

The fact that exceedingly small quantities of Haemoglobin can be detected with great facility by means of the microspectroscope, has rendered it possible to trace the distribution of this important body among organisms of various classes, and by comparing its absence from certain animals or tissues and its presence in others, with the accompanying conditions and activities belonging to the particular organisms, to arrive at some data bearing upon its physiological significance. Such a comparative method has already yielded results as to the activities of many organs and tissues, and is in all probability destined in the future, when applied to the more minute problems of the functions of structures and tissue-components, to give new impulse to the science of physiology. Before communicating some newly observed facts with regard to the occurrence of Haemoglobin in animal organisms, I may briefly state what is the present condition of the subject.