Part 75
The following report of a commission composed of MM. Mialhe, Mayel, Lefort, and Cornil, appointed to devise the best method for the examination of blood stains, was published in 1873. The following translation of the report appeared in the 'Chemical News' of December 5th, 1873.
1st. When the stain is of recent date, or supposed to be so, the red corpuscles should be particularly examined, and every care taken to preserve them without change. The stains must not be washed with water, so that the hæmatin may not be altered. After insisting on the microscopic characters of the blood stains, isolated or compared with those of various animals, the commission enumerates with care the fluids which are destructive or preservative of blood-corpuscles. Among the first, water, and particularly hot water, acetic, gallic, hydrochloric, and sulphuric acids; and of alkalies, potash and soda, even in weak solution, and ether and chloroform, also many other reagents, so alter the blood-corpuscles as to cause them to entirely disappear. Alcohol, chromic and picric acids, and bichromate of potash, preserve the corpuscles, though they alter their form. The preservative fluids are those whose composition approaches nearest to serum, such as the iodised serum of Schultze, an excellent preparation made with amniotic fluid, to which are added a few drops of the tincture of iodine, so as to give it the colour of white wine; or, better, a fluid composed thus; white of egg, 30 grams; distilled water, 270 grams; and chloride of sodium, 40 grams; or even a fluid containing 0·5 per cent. of chloride of sodium, or 5 or 6 per cent. of sulphate of sodium. If the stains be wetted and softened by these fluids, and then examined, white and red corpuscles and fibroid particles will be observed.
2nd. In more difficult cases, when the microscope, owing to the alterations which time has effected in the hæmatin, can give but vague information, examination by the spectroscope and chemical analysis enables us to arrive at precise results. The use of these means being less known, and also more delicate, requires special study.
1. _Spectrum analysis._ Colouring matters have the power of absorbing certain coloured rays of white light--the same always for the same substance. This is the principle upon which spectroscopic examination is based. If into any analysing tube filled with water a few drops of solution of hæmoglobin be introduced, till it has the colour of peach-blossoms, the luminous rays of the spectrum passing through this fluid present two bands of absorption, in the lines D and E of Frauenhofer, in the yellow and the green. The same fact would be observed if a few drops of blood were substituted for hæmoglobin in the analysis.
In a case of doubt the hæmoglobin of the blood could be reduced by adding to this latter a reducing body. Destroyed hæmoglobin has a different spectrum from oxygenated hæmoglobin, a single absorption band as large as the two former bands united, and a little to the left of Frauenhofer's line D.
2. In blood in a state of decomposition, or which has been treated with acids or caustic alkalies, hæmoglobin is changed into a new substance; hæmatin is formed, which, combined with hydrochloric acid, gives definite crystals.
In order to obtain them we must proceed thus:--A small fragment of dried blood is placed on a glass slide; it is dissolved in a drop of water, and a minute portion of sea-salt added. It is covered with a thin slide, and pure acetic acid is made to pass between the two slides, and it is heated over a spirit-lamp to boiling-point; acetic acid is again added, and it is heated afresh; and this is repeated till the crystals are obtained.
They are rhomboidal, of a dirty brown colour, quite characteristic, and require to be seen with a magnifying power of three hundred or four hundred diameters. With the smallest quantity of blood these two reactions can always be produced--the spectrum examination and the crystals of hydrochlorate of hæmatin; and they are so certain that the existence of one alone enables one to affirm the presence of blood.
3. The third process, though not so exact as the preceding, ought, nevertheless, never to be neglected. If to a very small quantity of blood dissolved in a little water be added a few drops of tincture of guaiacum and of binoxide of hydrogen, a persistent blue colour is immediately produced; but this very sensitive reaction can be obtained with other organic matter, such as nasal mucus, saliva, &c.; it therefore only gives a probability. We must proceed in the following manner:--A tincture of guaiacum is prepared with alcohol at 83 degrees, and guaiacum resin; a mixture of sulphuric ether and binoxide of hydrogen is also made, and enclosed in a stoppered bottle, and kept under water in the dark. This preparation is less liable to change than pure oxygenated waters. The object stained with blood, if it be white, is put into a little cup, then moistened with water to dissolve out the blood stain, and washed in distilled water; this water is then submitted to the action of these reagents.
If the thing stained be coloured, and the stain little or not at all visible, it must be moistened, and then pressed between two or three sheets of white blotting-paper, and tried first with the guaiacum. If the stain be of blood a reddish or brown spot will form on the paper.
One of the sheets should be treated with ammonia, and the stain will become crimson or green. A second sheet treated with tincture of guaiacum and ozonised ether will give a blue colour more or less intense, according to the quantity of the blood.
To recapitulate:--1. If the stains or scales of blood appear recent, the corpuscles may, after the necessary precautions, be examined under the microscope, and their presence, diameter, &c. observed, which will enable one to diagnose the origin of the blood, whether human or animal. 2. If the stains be old and the blood changed, the reaction with the tincture of guaiacum would make the presence of blood probable; but its actual presence cannot be affirmed without spectrum examination or the production of crystals of hydrochlorate of hæmatin; one of the two is sufficient. It is unnecessary to add that these reactions do not show whether the blood is human or animal.
Bullocks' blood has of late years, more especially in France, come into use as a remedy for anæmia and pulmonary phthisis. A correspondent, writing from Paris to the 'Medical Times and Gazette' in 1872, says: "It is a curious sight to see the number of patients of both sexes and of all ranks and ages, who flock to the slaughter-house every morning to drink of the still fuming blood of the oxen slaughtered for the table. I was struck with the facility with which young ladies take to it, and I have heard many say that they prefer it to cod-liver oil."
In a paper read in 1872 before the Academy of Sciences in Paris by M. Boussingault, detailing his researches into the composition of blood, the author expressed his surprise that bullock's blood was not more generally used as a food, as it contains all the constituents of a perfect aliment. According to the above chemist, of all nutritive substances the blood of animals contains the largest amount of iron. In man, Boussingault found in 100 grammes of blood 51 milligrammes of iron; in that of the ox, 55 milligrammes; of the pig, 59 milligrammes; and in that of the frog, 42 milligrammes. But it was not only in red blood that iron was found, Boussingault detected it in white blood also; and he found the blood of snails to contain as much iron as that of the ox or calf.
A simple and ingenious method for the therapeutic administration of the serum of the blood of sheep and oxen has been lately devised by Dr Francis Vacher, the medical officer of Birkenhead. Dr Vacher takes the blood of these animals, allows it to stand until it clots, removes the clot, and dries it at a gentle heat in a hot-air chamber. By this means he obtains a nearly odourless and comparatively tasteless powder, which is ten times the strength of fresh serum. To this preparation he gives the name "_serum sanguinis exsiccatum_." He believes that his dried serum will prove a valuable nutrient in consumption, scrofula, diabetes, and loss of flesh.
_Uses, &c._ That of bullocks is employed for the clarification of wines and syrups; also in the preparation of adhesive cements, as the vehicle in coarse paint for outdoor work, as a manure, as a bleaching powder, to make pure animal charcoal, and for several other purposes. The blood of sheep, pigs, and bullocks, mixed with flour or oatmeal, and seasoned, is eaten by the common people, but it is rather indigestible, and apt to induce disease. Gut-skins stuffed with this mixture form "black puddings."
Bullock's blood, dried by exposure in thin layers to a current of air, at a heat under 125°, and then reduced to powder, is exported in large quantities to the colonies, where it is used, as a 'clarifier,' in the sugar-works. Dried at a temperature ranging between 212° to 220°, then coarsely powdered, and the dusty portion sifted off, it is much used by fraudulent dealers to adulterate grain-musk. See CHARCOAL (ANIMAL), GLOBULIN, HÆMATOSIN, PLASMA, SERUM, STAINS, VISION, &c.
=Blood-purifying Tea, Gout and Rheumatic= (Franz Wilhelm, Neunkirchen). Equal parts of senna leaves, sarsaparilla root, liquorice, rad. tritici, red sandalwood, bittersweet stalks, cut small and mixed. (Hager.)
=Blood-purifying Tea= (F. Köller, Graz). Senna leaves, 32 parts; guaiacum wood, 10 parts; juniper wood, restharrow root, rad. tritici, dandelion root, chicory root, of each 8 parts; alder bark, 3 parts; sassafras, 2 parts; star-anise, 5 parts, dirty and worm-eaten, roughly chopped, and mixed. (Hager.)
=Blood, Spit'ting of.= See HÆMOPTYSIS.
=Blood, Vom'iting of.= See STOMACH DISEASES.
=BLOOD'-ROOT.= _Syn._ RED'-ROOT, PUCCOON'; SANGUINA''RIA, L. The _sanguin[=a]r'ia Canaden'sis_ (Linn.), a papaveraceous plant of North America; also its root (SANGUINA''RIA, Ph. U. S.), which is the part used in medicine. Juice, blood-red, used in dyeing. In small doses (3 to 5 gr.) it is stimulant, diaphoretic, and expectorant; in large ones (10 to 20 gr.), narcotic, emetic, and purgative. The powder is sometimes used as an escharotic. See SANGUINARINE.
=BLOOD'STONE.= A hard compact variety of hæmatite used to form burnishers. The name is also applied by lapidaries to the heliotrope.
=BLOOM.= In _perfumery_, &c., a name given to several calorific skin-cosmetics, of which the following are examples:--
=Bloom of Almonds= (ah'-m[)u]ndz). _Syn._ AL'MOND-BLOOM. _Prop._ Boil 1 _oz._ of ground Brazil-wood in 2-1/2 _pints_ of soft water for 30 minutes, adding the juice of two lemons towards the end; strain, and add 3/4 _oz._ of isinglass, 1/4 _oz._ of powdered cochineal, 1 _oz._ of alum, and 1/2 _oz._ of borax; boil again for 4 or 5 minutes, and strain through muslin. Glass or earthenware vessels must be used, as metals injure its colour.
=Bloom of Roses.= _Prep._ 1. Dried red rose leaves, 1-1/2 _oz._; boiling water, 1 _pint_; infuse in glass or earthenware for 2 hours, press out the liquor, and add the juice of 3 large lemons; the next day filter, or decant the clear portion. Both the above should be kept in a cool place, otherwise they soon spoil. A little spirit of wine (3 or 4 _fl. oz._ to the pint) is sometimes added to them to remove this objection. They are greatly inferior to the following:--
2. Carmine, 1/4 _oz._; strong liquor of ammonia (not weaker than ·900), 1 _oz._; put them into a stoppered bottle, set it in a cool place, and occasionally agitate it for two or three days, to effect a solution; then add of rose-water, 1 pint; and, after admixture, further add of esprit de rose, 1/2 _fl. oz._; pure rectified spirit, 1 _fl. oz._; again well agitate, and set the whole aside for a week; lastly, decant the clear portion from the dregs (if any), for use or sale. Very fine. A cheaper article is made by omitting a portion of the carmine, and the whole of the esprit and spirit; and a still inferior one by substituting 1-1/2 _oz._ of silver-grain cochineal (in powder) for the carmine, with digestion for a week in the ammonia previously diluted with one half of the water.
=Bloom of Youth, or Liquid Pearl= (G. W. Laird, New York). A colourless liquid holding in suspension 34 per cent. of zinc oxide entirely free from lead. (Chandler.)
=BLOTE.= To prepare or cure by drying and smoking; now only applied to fish.
=BLO'TER.= _Syn._ BLOAT'ER. A bloted fish; appr., a herring slightly salted, and only very slightly dried and smoked.
=BLOW'PIPE= (bl[=o]'-). _Syn._ CHALUMEAU, Fr.; LÖTHROHR, Ger. An instrument by means of which the flame of a candle or lamp, or a gas-jet, is directed upon any substance placed to receive it, which is thus subjected to an intense heat. The blowpipe is to the artist and the experimentalist what the wind-furnace is to the artisan; but it is proportionately more powerful, convenient, and economical.
Beginners are usually unable to maintain a continued stream of air from the jet of this instrument, although the doing so is really a very simple affair. The operation merely depends on a little artifice in using it, which is more difficult to describe than to acquire. The effect intended to be produced is a continual stream of air for many minutes, if necessary, without interruption, even for an instant. This is done by simply applying the tongue to the roof of the mouth, so as to interrupt the communication between the mouth and the passage of the nostrils; by which means the operator is at liberty to breathe through the nose, at the same time that by the muscles of the lips he forces a continued stream of air from the anterior part of the mouth through the blowpipe. When the mouth begins to be empty it is replenished by the lungs in an instant, while the tongue is withdrawn from the roof of the mouth, and replaced again in the same manner as in pronouncing the monosyllable tut. In this way the stream of air may be continued for a long time without fatigue, provided the flame be not urged too impetuously; and even should it be so urged no other inconvenience will be felt than that of slight fatigue of the muscles of the lips.
The hottest portion of the flame produced by the action of the blowpipe is at the tip of the outer white flame, which has also the property of rapidly burning or oxidising substances placed in it which are susceptible of such a change; and it is hence commonly called the OXIDISING FLAME. The interior blue flame is, for a like reason, called the DEOXIDISING or REDUCING FLAME, as it possesses the property of extracting oxygen from most bodies capable of being so affected.
Substances to be submitted to the action of the blowpipe-flame are placed on a support, which is either a piece of charcoal, or a wire or small spoon of platinum, gold, or silver, as the case may require. Sometimes a plate of cyanite is used. Pine-wood charcoal is preferred for this purpose; and the sides, not the ends of the fibres, are presented to the flame. When a very intense heat is required, the substance operated on should not exceed the size of half a peppercorn.
Several characteristic colour reactions may often be obtained in the examination of a substance for analysis, by fusing a small portion of it, with a bead of microcosmic salt, and exposing it for some time to the outer flame of the blowpipe. If the substance dissolve readily in the salt and rather copiously to a clear bead _whilst hot_, and is of a blue colour by candle light inclining to violet, it denotes COBALT. If it be green, upon cooling blue; in the reducing flame after cooling, red--COPPER. If green, particularly fine on cooling, unaltered in the reducing flame, CHROMIUM. If brownish red, on cooling light yellow or colourless; in this reducing flame, red whilst hot, yellow whilst cooling, then greenish--IRON. If reddish to brownish red, on cooling yellow to reddish yellow or colourless; in the reducing flame unaltered--NICKEL. If yellowish-brown, on cooling light yellow or colourless; in the reducing flame almost colourless, and blackish-grey on cooling--BISMUTH. If light yellowish to opal, when cold, rather dull; in the reducing flame whitish-grey--SILVER. If amethyst-red, especially on cooling; colourless in the reducing flame, not quite clear--MANGANESE. If the bead remains clear on cooling, ANTIMONY, ALUMINA, ZINC, CADMIUM, LEAD, LIME, and MAGNESIA are indicated, the latter five when added in somewhat large proportion to the microcosmic salt, give enamel white beads. The bead of oxide of LEAD saturated is yellowish. If the bead becomes enamel-white on cooling, even where only a small portion of the powder has been added to the microcosmic salt--BARYTA and STRONTIA are indicated.
If the substance dissolves in the microcosmic salt slowly and only in small quantity, the bead being colourless and remaining so after cooling, the undissolved portion looking semi-transparent, and if upon the addition of a little sesquioxide of iron it acquires the characteristic colour of an iron bead--this denotes SILICIC ACID.
For producing extreme degrees of heat the flame is blown with a jet of oxygen gas, the instrument being then called an OXYGEN BLOWPIPE; or a mixture of oxygen and hydrogen is burned, when it is called an OXY-HYDROGEN BLOWPIPE. The heat produced by the last is so great that no substance can stand exposure to it, even the most refractory native compounds being immediately fused. Gold is volatilised, and iron is rapidly consumed the instant it is placed in the flame.
The principal varieties of the blowpipe in general use are figured in the engravings above.
Beside the above there are several other varieties of the blowpipe occasionally employed; one in which the air is expelled by the pressure of a column of water, and hence called the HYDROSTATIC BLOWPIPE; another, in which the flame is blown with the vapour of boiling alcohol, is named the SPIRIT-BLOWPIPE.
=Blowpipe, Herapath.= For sealing and bending glass tubes and constructing glass apparatus of various forms, it is convenient to have the blowpipe mounted on a fixed support, and when a flame of considerable power is required, the blast must be supplied by bellows worked with the foot. A very convenient form of blowpipe for these purposes is that invented by Herapath, and represented in the following figure, _a_ is a flexible tube attached to a stop-cock (_b_), which communicates with a tube (_c d_), bent at right angles at _d_, where a T-shaped tube (_e f g_) slips on by means of the piece _f_. The blow-pipe jet (_h i_) passes into the longer arm of the T-piece, and fits somewhat tightly; _k l_ is a second piece of flexible tube, terminating in a mouthpiece, or connected with a blowing apparatus. On turning on the gas, it passes in the direction marked by the arrows, and is to be inflamed at _e_. On blowing with the mouth, or by means of a pair of bellows, into the tube _k l_, the ignited gas takes the form of a blow-pipe flame of great power, the nature of which is entirely under control by means of the stop-cock _b_, and also by regulating the quantity of air supplied through the tube (_k l_). The T-shaped piece is movable at _f_, so that the jet may be directed to any position. The apparatus may be mounted on a heavy foot, and connected with the gas-supply, by means of the flexible tube, so that it can be placed in any required position on the laboratory table; or it may be permanently fixed on a table specially devoted to the purpose, and having beneath it a pair of bellows worked by a treadle.
A simple and inexpensive apparatus for supplying a continuous blast of air for blowpipe or other purpose is figured below.
It consists essentially of a tin tube (to which is fixed a branch tube open to the air), through which water may be driven from a supply tap into a properly fitted bottle. Air becomes thus entangled with the water in its course through the tube, and carried with it into the bottle. The water is then got rid of by means of a syphon, and the air is conducted by an elastic tube to the blow-pipe.
To set the apparatus in action, connect the tube C D with a water tap by means of a piece of elastic tubing, and turn on the water; pinch the tube M for a few moments between the thumb and finger until the syphon has begun to act. A blast of air will at once be felt at the extremity of M.
=BLUB'BER.= _Syn._ AD'EPS BALÆNA''RUM, L.; GRAISSE DE BALEINE, Fr. The soft fat of whales, and of other large sea-animals, from which the oil (TRAIN' OIL, WHALE' OIL) is obtained by heat.
=Blubber, Sea.= The popular name of several species of marine animals of the genus _medusa_, having a body resembling a large mass of jelly. They are very plentiful in some parts of the coast of England, and are said to form a rich and cheap manure for pasture and arable land. They are used at the rate of about 1 _ton_ to every 20 or 30 loads of mould, together with a chaldron of lime, per acre. In 3 or 4 months the land is usually found in prime condition. Pilchards, and other fish that swarm upon our coasts, and for which there is not a ready market, may be used in the same way, and are much richer, being, when properly managed, but little inferior to guano.
=BLUE= (bl'[=o][=o]). _Syn._ CÆRU'LEUS, L.; BLEU, Fr.; BLAU, Ger. Of the colour of the clear sky, or of any shade of it, whether lighter or darker; subst., a blue colour, blueness (COL'OR CÆRU'LEUS, L.); or a blue, colouring material or pigment (CÆRU'LEUM, L.).
=Blue Dye=. _Syn._ TEINTE BLEUE, Fr.; BLAU FARBE, Ger. The most permanent blue is that given by indigo, and particularly by what is called the 'indigo-vat.' A variety of shades, of great beauty, and considerable permanence, may also be given by the 'Prussian-blue process.' Cheaper blues are commonly dyed with logwood. Each of these is noticed at length under their respective heads. The following are also employed, and are well adapted for common goods, on the small scale and for domestic use.
1. Give the goods a mordant of alum, or of acetate of alumina ('red liquor'), then rinse them well, and boil them in a bath of logwood, to which a small quantity of blue vitriol has been added; lastly, rinse and dry.
2. Boil the goods for a short time in a bath of logwood; then add to the liquor tartar and verdigris, in the proportion of 1 oz. of each to every lb. of logwood employed; and again boil for a short time.
3. Give the goods a mordant of tartar; lift, add a little chromate of potash; again work for 15 or 20 minutes, and rinse; next boil in a bath of logwood, adding towards the last a few grains more of the chromate; again boil, and finish. The whole quantity of chromate used should not exceed 1/4 oz. to each lb. of logwood taken for the bath. Very dark.
4. Bilberries, elder-berries, mulberries, privet-berries, and several other like vegetable substances, may be used to dye blue, as above, instead of logwood.