Abstract
ABSORPTION OF LIGHT IN THE BLOOD.—In a number of cases of unintentional poisoning caused by carbon monoxide in Berlin during the past winter, oxygen has been used as an antidote. Dr. Baeblich, of Berlin, lately showed the desirability of the method by means of spectroscopic proof in a public lecture. As is well known, the spectrum of blood shows two well-defined bands between Fraunhofer's lines D and E. By the absorption of CO the position of these bands is very slightly changed in the direction of the red part of the spectrum. The difference is more strikingly shown by the addition of sulphide of ammonium. In the case of healthy blood the two bands of the spectrum disappear and are replaced by a single one situated midway between the positions of the former pair. Blood poisoned with CO shows no change in the bands by the same treatment. If oxygen is, however, added to it before the reduction with sulphide of ammonium, the characteristic spectrum of healthy blood is at once produced.
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Chemical Notes . Nature 15, 362–363 (1877). https://doi.org/10.1038/015362a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/015362a0