Gustave Piotrowski[52] has experimented on the length of time blood retains CO. The blood of dogs poisoned by this agent was kept in flasks, and then the gas pumped out by means of a mercury pump on the following dates:—
[52] Compt. Rend. Soc. de Biol., v. 433.
| Date. | Content of gas in CO. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan. | 12, | 1892, | 24·7 | per cent. |
| J „ | 20, | „ | 23·5 | „ |
| J „ | 28, | „ | 22·2 | „ |
| Feb. | 8, | „ | 20·3 | „ |
| F „ | 16, | „ | 15·5 | „ |
| F „ | 26, | „ | 10·2 | „ |
| March | 3, | „ | 6·3 | „ |
| Ma„ | 14, | „ | 4·6 | „ |
| Ma„ | 22, | „ | 1·2 | „ |
The same dog was buried on the 12th of January, and exhumed on March 28th, and the gas pumped out from some of the blood; this gas gave 11·7 per cent. of CO; hence it is clear that burial preserves CO blood from change to a certain extent.
N. Gréhant[53] treated the poisoned blood of a dog with acetic acid, and found it evolved 14·4 c.c. CO from 100 c.c. of blood.
[53] Compt. Rend., cvi. 289.