A simple method of demonstrating the alkaline reaction of the blood / by E.A. Schäfer.

  • Edward Albert Sharpey-Schäfer
Date:
[1880]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A simple method of demonstrating the alkaline reaction of the blood / by E.A. Schäfer. 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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    be objected that the addition of strong solution of salt effects an alteration in the blood-plasma by causing osmosis from the corpuscles, as evidenced by the shrinking they exhibit. Neither of these objections will apply to the method here to be described. In the first place it should be mentioned that the introduction of elaborate methods to attain a simple object is due to the assumption that the haemoglobin of the blood will soak as fast into the pores of the litmus paper used for detecting the reaction as will the alkaline salts themselves. This is not the case, however, with the delicately-coloured glazed litmus paper which is now obtainable^ and accordingly this may be employed directly for testing, the reaction even of a coloured animal fluid Uke the blood. The mode of procedure is as follows :—A drop of blood, obtained by pricking the finger, is placed upon the smooth coloured surface of a piece of the dry, faintly-reddened glazed litmus paper, and after a few seconds is wiped off with the corner of a handker- chief or clean linen rag moistened with water. The place where the blood has stood is seen to be marked out as a well-defined blue patch upon the red or violet ground. Nothing can be clearer or more convincing than the demonstration of the natural alkalinity of the blood which is afforded by this simple experiment. ^ The litmus papers used for the purpose -were obtained from Messrs. Townson & Mercer, of Bishopsgate Street, and cannot be too highly recommended for their susceptibility to traces of alkali (or acid). The papers are only coloured on one side.
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