FIBRILLATION OF COAGULATED FIBRINE. 



107 



Fis. 10. 



under the microscope ; especially after the clot has been hardened by boiling. 

 A number of fibres, more or less distinct, may be seen to cross one another; 

 forming by their interlacement a tolerably regular network, in the meshes of 

 which the red corpuscles are entangled. This fact was known to Haller ; 

 but it has been generally overlooked by subsequent Physiologists, until atten- 

 tion was drawn to it by the inquiries of Messrs. Addison, Gulliver, and 

 others. It is in the Bufly Coat, however, that the fibrous arrangement is best 

 seen; on account, "as it would appear, of the stronger attraction which the 

 particles of fibrine have for one another, when its vitality has been raised by 

 the increased elaboration to which it has been subjected. That there are va- 

 rieties of plasticity in the substance, which, on account of its power of spon- 

 taneously coagulating, we must still call fibrine, appears from this fact among 

 others, that, in tuberculous subjects, 

 the quantity of fibrine in the blood is 

 higher than usual (Andral and Gavarret), 

 although its plasticity is certainly below 

 par. It is as easy to understand, that 

 its plasticity may be increased, as that it 

 may be diminished ; and this either in 

 the general mass of the blood, or in a 

 local deposit. In fact, the adhesions 

 which are formed by the consolidation 

 of coagulable lymph, or in other words, 

 of the fluid portion of the blood, whose 

 plasticity has been heightened by the 

 vital actions that take place within the 

 capillaries of the part on which it has 



-r Fibrous structure of inflammatory exudation 



been effused, often acquire very eon- from peritoneum. 

 siderable firmness, before any vessels 



have penetrated them ; and this firmness must depend upon that mutual 

 attraction of the particles for one another, which in aplastic deposits is alto- 

 gether wanting, and which in cacoplastic deposits is deficient. A very inte- 

 resting example of a structure entirely composed of matted fibres, and evi- 

 dently originating in the simple consolidation of Fibrine, is found in the 

 membrane adherent to the interior of the Egg-shell (Membrana putaminis) ; 

 and also in that which forms the basis of the Egg- 

 shell itself. Between the two, there is no essen- 

 tial difference ; as may be seen by examining " an 

 egg without shell," as it is commonly termed, (or 

 rather one in which the shell-membrane has been 

 unconsolidated by the deposition of calcareous 

 matter) ; or by treating the egg-shell with dilute 

 acid, so as to remove the particles of carbonate of 

 lime, which are deposited in the interstices of the 

 network. The place of the shell is then found to 

 be occupied by a membrane of considerable firm- 

 ness, closely resembling that which lines the shell 

 and surrounds the albumen of the egg, but thicker 

 and more spongy. After maceration for a few 



-],,. -,i r L Fibrous membrane from the 



days, either of these membranes may be separated Egg-shell. 

 into a number of lamina, each of which (if suffi- 

 ciently thin) will show a beautiful arrangement of reticulated fibres. It is 

 impossible to refuse to such a structure the designation of an organized tis- 

 sue, although it contains no vessels, and must be formed by the simple con- 

 solidation of Fibrine, poured out from the lining membrane of the oviduct of 



Fig. 11. 



