The effect of small doses of mercury in modifying the number of the red blood corpuscles in syphilis : a study of blood-counting with the hématimètre / by E.L. Keyes.

  • Keyes, E. L. (Edward Lawrence), 1843-1924.
Date:
1876
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The effect of small doses of mercury in modifying the number of the red blood corpuscles in syphilis : a study of blood-counting with the hématimètre / by E.L. Keyes. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    T was known, and the superficies included in the count more or less accurately established; but the thickness of the layer of blood counted was a more or less variable factor. Many of the attempts formerly made were under- taken to establish, approximately, the relative proportion between the white and red corpuscles rather than to determine the absolute number of red corpuscles contained in a given volume of blood. The first recorded instance of which I am aware wherein accuracy was aimed at in estimating the exact volume of blood counted, was that of Cramer,1 and a cubic millimetre of blood was adopted as the unit of volume. The process was a rough one. In 1867, Potain made a positive step in advance in this direction by devising an ingenious set of instruments, requiring, however, considerable skill and care in their management, which allowed him, by the use of a special mathematical formula, to arrive at an easy estimate of the number of red corpuscles in a cubic millimetre, by counting a small portion of diluted blood. Fig. 1. Malassez2 gave Potain’s method to the world and wrote (and is still writing) extensively upon the subject of blood-counting. The instrument 1 Nederl., Lancet, 1855, referred to by Hayern Graz. Hebd., May, 1875. 2 Comptes Rendus de l’Academie des Sciences, Dec. 1872; De la Numeration des Globules rouges du Sang, These de Paris, 1873; Nouvelle Methode de Nume- ration des Globules rouges et des Globules blancs du Sang, Archives de Physio- logie, 1874, 1. p. 291.