METHEMALBUMIN. I. APPEARANCE DURING ADMINISTRATION OF PAMAQUINE AND QUININE.

Hematin was first identified by Schumm (1) as an abnormal constituent of blood plasma occurring in certain hemolytic states. The fact that this pigment does not circulate as free hematin but is combined with serum protein was suspected by Heilmeyer (2) on the basis of a displacement of one of the hematin absorption bands in the presence of serum. The serum albumin-hematin complex was first adequately described and differentiated from methemoglobin by Fairley and Bromfield (3) who studied the pigment in cases of blackwater fever. Fairley (4) named the compound "methaemalbumin" and presented a detailed characterization of its spectrophotometric properties, synthesis and chemical behavior. Spectrograms of the pigment as it occurs in serum of patients with blackwater fever were published by Foy and Kondi (5). Fox (6) based an analytical procedure for the estimation of methemalbumin on the intensity of the absorption band at 623 mtt and its response to certain reagents, sodium cyanide and hydrogen peroxide. The nature of the reaction between hematin and serum albumin was recently examined by J. Keilin (7). The metabolic disposition of methemalbumin is treated in the