Measuring HEMOglobin with the HAEMOmeter : Say What?

         When analyzing medical history, you will find many advancements and interesting tools in all health fields. In this particular post, I’m going to be talking about a tool used for measuring hemoglobin - the Haemometer.  The Haemometer, patented by Carl Reichert Wien, was used to measure hemoglobin in the blood system and started a new wave of hemoglobin-measuring tools being created for the health field.

         You may be wondering what exactly the Haemometer is since it is not a medical tool that is used today. The Haemometer was invented by Professor E von Fleischl of Vienna.¹ It was mostly in use from 1890 – 1900. The Haemometer is made of felt, metal and wood. It usually includes a box for storage and easy transportation. It is not a very large tool, measuring in at 10.5 x 13.7 x 10 centimeters.²

       

Picture from "Von Fleischl's Haemometer."

        There are many different parts to the Haemometer that each serve a unique purpose in the tool’s function. The basic parts of the apparatus are a metal cylinder divided into two equal sections, a stage, similar to one found on a microscope at the time, a wedge of moveable red glass, small capillary tubes, and a small glass pipette.³ A unique feature of the Haemometer is that it cannot be used in daylight or natural light, only by the light of oil lamps, candles, or gas appliances.⁴      
        There are specific steps to correctly using the Haemometer; three operations must be performed to examine hemoglobin in the blood. One must first obtain and measure the blood, then dissolve the blood in water and fill the instrument with this solution, and finally correctly arrange the instrument to read the results.⁵ One half of the divided cylinder is filled with the diluted blood solution, and the other half is filled with distilled water. The red glass wedge is used in comparison with the color of the diluted blood solution. Along the edge of the wedge is a scale from 0 to 120, which corresponds to the percentage of hemoglobin in the blood sample. One must move the glass wedge until the color of the hemoglobin blood solution matches the tint of the glass underneath it. It is a good idea to keep the Haemometer in a box, so natural light is blocked out and doesn’t mess with the shades of red you may see.⁶

            You must be cautious when using this medical appliance by using the following routine procedures. Always check the capillary tube to see if it’s dirty; if it is, it will not fill easily. To help it fill, one should tap the immersed side against the patient’s finger. Another thing is to always make sure to fill the tube exactly. If any clots appear, you should begin the procedure again. It is also important to take two to three readings and average them together; don’t just simply rely on one reading.⁷

Picture from Hoeber, Paul. The American Journal of Surgery

         The Haemometer has been compared to many similar tools of different times to ultimately find the advantages and disadvantages of the tool. While there are many advantages to the tool, I have found there to be many more disadvantages, which causes me to believe that this was not used widely or over a long period of time. Advantages include ease and convenience of management, fast and direct results, and the need for only a small amount of blood.⁸ However, most online journal authors seem to have not been a fan of the Haemometer for various reasons. For one, the blood pipette included is made from a fragile glass and has to be handled extremely carefully. Also, the dilution of the blood is a difficult process and takes lots of time and experience. Another fact is that it cannot be used with natural light, and this makes its usage difficult.⁹      
         As I mentioned, a lot of these advantages and especially disadvantages were discovered from comparisons to other hemoglobin-measuring tools. The main difference between this apparatus and later used devices is that this model required the user to use his/her own eyes to obtain results rather than an electric model that used a phototube to do this.¹⁰ Due to the various disadvantages of the Fleischl / Wien Haemometer, other hemoglobin-measuring tools were created and used around the same time as the Haemometer. One of these was the Dare haemoglobinometer. Dare's device overcame some of the difficulties the Haemometer presented. For example, his haemoglobinometer used undiluted blood which eased the entire process. This collected blood sample was then compared to a circular disc of colored glass that included more shades of red than the Haemometer’s wedge. Also, no dark room or box is needed to perform the procedure. All of these advantages to Dare's haemoglobinometer helped produce more accurate results.¹¹ 
  
         The Haemometer is definitely an interesting historical artifact to analyze. There isn’t too much information on it to be found if you decide to search it online, but it’s still very interesting to read the information you can find. I included the sources I used in this post below if you choose to further research this apparatus or read about the comparisons of it to other similar devices. As I mentioned, the Haemometer was just the beginning of a wave of new hemoglobin-measuring tools used in the health field. Disadvantages were found and improvements were made to get us to the level we're at now. Modern day blood analysis is now much more advanced than the Haemometer, but every practice has to start somewhere, right? 

         I hope you enjoyed this post on the Haemometer! Feel free to leave a comment below telling me your thoughts.





Sources
1. University of California. The Journal of Microscopy and Natural Science 12. (1893): 9.  https://books.google.com/books?id=T8MeAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA9&lpg=PA9&dq=REICHERT+WIEN+hemoglobin+MICROSCOPE&source=bl&ots=dzyD-Xo5oE&sig=lwe0aBsMtA98AFRwpJyTAAjL0hQ&hl=en&sa=X&ei=48QKVa2SAsmjNqyMhIAP&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=REICHERT%20WIEN%20hemoglobin%20MICROSCOPE&f=false


2. "Von Fleischl's Haemometer." CHSI - The Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University.  http://dssmhi1.fas.harvard.edu/emuseumdev/code/emuseum.asp?style=text¤trecord=1&page=seealso&profile=objects&searchdesc=Related to Carl Reichert...&searchstring=seealsoid/,/is/,/2784/,/false/,/true&sessionid=8F286345-CD82-4948-AC7C-DAA998A5BF78&action=searchrequest&style=single¤trecord=3.



3. Coles, Alfred. The Blood: How to Examine and Diagnose Its Diseases (1898): 13.  https://books.google.com/books?id=gQ0pAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA15&lpg=PA15&dq=von fleischl haemometer&source=bl&ots=dOGNABXOf_&sig=IkRILp3aaqh8wzDuxj79kekXKzo&hl=en&sa=X&ei=-aUhVfO2NMqLsAWA5oGoBQ&ved=0CCAQ6AEwATgK#v=onepage&q=von fleischl haemometer&f=false.



4. University of California. The Journal of Microscopy and Natural Science 12. (1893): 9.  https://books.google.com/books?id=T8MeAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA9&lpg=PA9&dq=REICHERT+WIEN+hemoglobin+MICROSCOPE&source=bl&ots=dzyD-Xo5oE&sig=lwe0aBsMtA98AFRwpJyTAAjL0hQ&hl=en&sa=X&ei=48QKVa2SAsmjNqyMhIAP&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=REICHERT%20WIEN%20hemoglobin%20MICROSCOPE&f=false



5. Ibid., 10.



6. Hoeber, Paul. The American Journal of Surgery 21 (1907): 6-7. https://books.google.com/books?id=sow1AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA4&lpg=PA4&dq=fleischl hemoglobin reichert&source=bl&ots=aSEV7hRLqR&sig=ws-gde2cAJxYPZsNBO-DotfvrI0&hl=en&sa=X&ei=RgEUVZ_-Ec-zoQTZh4DIAQ&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=fleischl hemoglobin reichert&f=false.



7. Ibid., 7.



8. University of California. The Journal of Microscopy and Natural Science 12. (1893): 10.   https://books.google.com/books?id=T8MeAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA9&lpg=PA9&dq=REICHERT+WIEN+hemoglobin+MICROSCOPE&source=bl&ots=dzyD-Xo5oE&sig=lwe0aBsMtA98AFRwpJyTAAjL0hQ&hl=en&sa=X&ei=48QKVa2SAsmjNqyMhIAP&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=REICHERT%20WIEN%20hemoglobin%20MICROSCOPE&f=false



9. Medical Society of the County of Albany (N.Y.). Albany Medical Annals 23 (1902): 558. https://books.google.com/books?id=4TZYAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA560&lpg=PA560&dq=von fleischl haemometer&source=bl&ots=tnJW58ztMx&sig=JmXuRtnVEppNXxuTlAQuXe674fc&hl=en&sa=X&ei=06MhVZfIFsm8ggTkgoKABg&ved=0CDQQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=haemometer&f=false.



10. "Von Fleischl's Haemometer." CHSI - The Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University.  http://dssmhi1.fas.harvard.edu/emuseumdev/code/emuseum.asp?style=text¤trecord=1&page=seealso&profile=objects&searchdesc=Related to Carl Reichert...&searchstring=seealsoid/,/is/,/2784/,/false/,/true&sessionid=8F286345-CD82-4948-AC7C-DAA998A5BF78&action=searchrequest&style=single¤trecord=3.



11. Medical Society of the County of Albany (N.Y.). Albany Medical Annals 23 (1902): 558-59. https://books.google.com/books?id=4TZYAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA560&lpg=PA560&dq=von fleischl haemometer&source=bl&ots=tnJW58ztMx&sig=JmXuRtnVEppNXxuTlAQuXe674fc&hl=en&sa=X&ei=06MhVZfIFsm8ggTkgoKABg&ved=0CDQQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=haemometer&f=false.