THE COAGULATION OF THE BLOOD 



By GEORGE A. BUCKMASTER, MA., D.M. (Oxon.) 

 Assistant Professor of Physiology, University College, University of London 



PAGE 



i. Introductory . 5 1 



2. The Coagulation Rate of Human Blood . . . .54 



3. State of the Coagulation Question at the close of the 



year 1880 55 



4. Phases of the Coagulation Process 57 



5. The Role of Calcium in the Process of Coagulation . 58 



6. Thrombin or Fibrin-Ferment 61 



7. Consequences of the Intra- vascular Injection of Peptone 69 



8. Consequences of the Intra-vascular Injection ofThrombo- 



kinase 71 



9. Substances which directly Hinder Coagulation both in- 



side and outside the Body 7 2 



10. The Histological Appearances displayed when Blood 



coagulates 74 



1. Introductory 



In all vertebrate and invertebrate animals which possess either 

 a true vascular or a pseudo-haemal system, it is known that the 

 liquid within these channels is in a state of continual or 

 intermittent movement during life. In order that this condition 

 shall be maintained, the blood or lymph or tissue-fluids con- 

 tained within both the lymphatic and blood-vascular system 

 must possess only a small degree of viscidity, which, apart from 

 the suspended morphological bodies, depends upon their 

 content in protein substances. The actual viscidity of blood 

 varies scarcely at all during life, though its viscosity appears 

 to vary within limits and to be largely dependent upon the 

 corpuscular richness ; an excessive number of corpuscles in the 

 unit volume increases the friction-coefficient of the blood, thereby 

 throwing extra work upon the heart. Blood which escapes 

 from the blood-vessels into the extra-vascular regions of the 

 body may or may not exhibit that change in viscidity which all 



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