. Elements of human physiology. Physiology. 58 PHYSIOLOGY arterial blood, and we shall see later that the bright colour is due to the formation of a loose combination of one of the constituents of the blood, haemoglobin, with oxygen. This combination is normally formed in the lungs, and is robbed of its oxygen in the tissues. On microscopic examination the blood is found to consist of a nearly colourless fluid, the liquor sanguinis or hlood- plasma, holding in suspension an enormous number of solid bodies, the red and white blood-corpuscles. The colour of the blood is entirely due to the red c
. Elements of human physiology. Physiology. 58 PHYSIOLOGY arterial blood, and we shall see later that the bright colour is due to the formation of a loose combination of one of the constituents of the blood, haemoglobin, with oxygen. This combination is normally formed in the lungs, and is robbed of its oxygen in the tissues. On microscopic examination the blood is found to consist of a nearly colourless fluid, the liquor sanguinis or hlood- plasma, holding in suspension an enormous number of solid bodies, the red and white blood-corpuscles. The colour of the blood is entirely due to the red corpuscles. These are, in man, non-nucleated biconcave discs about g-gVo of an inch in diameter, and a third of this in thickness. The Fig. Non-nucleated red blood-discs of human blood. On the right of the figure the corpuscles are seen on edge. (Swale Vincent.) colour of a single corpuscle is yellow, the red colour being apparent only when large numbers of them are seen together. They form about 40 per cent, of the total mass of the blood, there being about five million red corpuscles in every cubic millimetre of blood. They are soft, flexible, and elastic, so that they can readily squeeze through apertures and canals narrower than them- selves without being permanently distorted. Each red cor- puscle consists of a framework or stroma composed chiefly of protein material, containing in its meshes or in a state of loose chemical combination with it, a red colouring matter, haemoglobin, to which is due the colour of the corpuscles and of the blood itself. By treating the blood with weak solutions of tannic or boracic acid, a separation occurs between the haemoglobin and the stroma. The haemoglobin appears as a small ball. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Starling, Ernest Henry, 1866-1927. C
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