course, is the reason why arterial
blood is crimson, while venous blood
is much darker. The average amount
of hemoglobin in an adult male 1s
about 14 grams per 100 cubic centi-
meters of blood, and as | gram of
hemoglobin unites with 1.36 cubic
centimeters of oxygen, the normal
oxygen capacity is over 19 cubic cen-
timeters per 100 cubic centimeters of

blood.

In the average human being, there
are between 4,500,000 and
5,000,000 red blood cells per cubic
millimeter.

Blood is divided into four main
groups. All human beings belong to
ene of these main blood divisions,
though not in the same proportion.
The blood groups are classified un-
der three separate systems, though
each deals with the same groups. The
one used generally nowadays is the
International or Landsteiner system,
though the Moss and Jansky classi-
fications are frequently used. Here-
under are the four blood groups,
with corresponding classifications in
all the systems, together with an
approximate percentage of people
falling in each group:

BLOOD GROUPS

Percentage

International or of People
Landsteiner Moss Jansky in Group
O IV 1 45%
A Il II 42%
B ge 10 10%
AB it a 3%

RACIAL DIRFERENCES

It has been found that in certain
countries there is a difference in the
proportions of the blood groups,
thus we find that there is a higher
TWENTIETH EDITION

"CLUMPING”

(BUNCHES OF GRAPES 5)

SECTION

“COAGULATION

proportion of AB's the

Chinese.

among

The group classifications are de-
rived from, the following facts. A
substance called Agglutinogen is
present in three of the above groups,
and for purposes of explanation, the
International System will be used.
These are the A, the B and the AB
groups. Now in the serum, there

is another substance called Agglu-
tinin. Again this is present only in
three groups, that is, O, A, and in
B. However, the agglutinogens and
the agglutinins are not all the same.

Let us take Group A blood. The
cells contain ““A’’ agglutinogen, but
the serum contains Anti-B agglu-
tinin, or to make it easier “‘b’’ agglu-
tinin. Group B blood contains ‘‘B”’
agglutinogen in the cells and ‘‘a”’
agglutinin in the serum. These sub-
stances, agglutinogen and agglutinin
if brought together, cause a phenom-
enon known as ‘‘clumping’’ of the
blood cells. This is not coagulation,
though there is some similarity. The
“clumping” seen through the micro-
scope presents the appearance of a
bunch of grapes, but in coagulation
the blood cells form themselves into
small groups resembling piles of
coins irreguarly stacked. It will be
seen therefore, that if “‘A’’ blood is
mixed with “B’”’ blood, the agglu-
tinogen of the “A’’ cells in the pres-
ence of the anti-A or “‘A”’ agglutinin
contained in the serum of the “B”’
blood, will cause the ‘‘A’’ blood cells
to clump. Likewise, the ““B’’ blood
cells will be clumped by the “b”’
agglutinin in the “A” blood.

The chart below explains this

{ phenomenon a little more clearly.

(PLES OF cows)

WHOLE BLOOD

Red Cells Serum
Group (Agglutinogen) (Agglutinin)
“Oy” None Anti-A or “a”
Anti-B or “‘b”’
ne A Anti-B or “b”
oats B Anti-A or “a”
As seeawanidels None

It will be seen that each group
contains an element hostile to the
other groups, but in the technique
of blood transfusions this is over-
come to the extent that “‘O” group
are called the ‘universal donors’
while the AB group are known as
the ‘‘universal recipients.”

Besides the four main categories
mentioned above, there are many
forms of sub-classification, continu-

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Page Forty-five