Dr. Buchanan on the State of the Blood after taking Food. 01 



same characters. The discolouration was occasioned by a flocculent brownish white 

 matter, which, in the course of two days, collected in the upper half of the vessel, 

 leaving the liquid below quite clear. This matter exactly resembled in appearance 

 that separated by salt, and this strengthened the opinion which I had begun to 

 entertain, that the substance separating spontaneously and that separable by salt, 

 were mere modifications of the same substance. On drawing off the clear liquid, 

 and saturating it with salt, it gave a precipitate not less abundant than that which 

 had previously separated spontaneously. As I had never before seen serum so 

 loaded with alimentary matter, I inquired as to the diet of this woman, and found 

 it to consist daily of beef 24 oz., bread 12 oz., milk 12 oz., cabbage 6 oz., 

 and 11 lbs. of drink including the milk. She took besides 3 gr. of opium daily 

 The urine amounted to 26j lbs. on an average in the twenty-four hours, and 

 was highly saccharine. 



It is also worthy of remark with respect to this serum, that after it had been a 

 day in my possession I found it to have a most distinct acid reaction. This fact 

 can scarcely be explained, but on the supposition that the serum contained sugar, 

 which had been converted into lactic acid. 



Herring 8. — On the 2d of August, after a fast of eighteen hours, R. took a full 

 meal of fresh herrings, with no other accompaniment than salt. He was bled im- 

 mediately before the meal, and at two, and four hours after it. 



The serum from the first bleeding was quite limpid, that from the second was 

 highly opaline, and that from the third was quite opaque. All of them gave a 

 precipitate with common salt, but in none of them was it very abundant, and in 

 the first it was little less in quantity than in the two last. On the other hand the 

 two last gave a very abundant precipitate with sulphate of soda, while the first 

 gave only a scanty one. 



In all probability a much larger precipitate would have been 

 obtained from the blood of this man, had the bleeding been deferred 

 to six or eight hours after the meal, for it may well be supposed that 

 the digestion of such a heavy meal would be laborious, and, therefore, 

 probably the alimentary matter would be late of entering the blood- 

 vessels. 



Potatoes — Whisky. — On the 9 th of August T., a stout healthy man, after 

 fasting eighteen hours, dined abundantly upon potatoes and salt. He was bled at 

 four hours after the meal. He had then three glasses of Glenlivet whisky with hot 

 water and sugar, and half-an-hour thereafter he was again bled. 



The scrum from the first bleeding was rather scanty: that from the last very 

 abundant. Both were quite limpid, and of a yellowish-green tinge, less deep in 

 the latter. Both gave a scanty precipitate with common salt and sulphate of soda : 

 but it was remarkable that while the latter gave the most abundant precipitate with 

 common salt, the former gave the most abundant with sulphate of soda; and that 

 while the precipates with the salt were truly such falling to the bottom, the matter 

 separated by the sulphate of soda was in both cases more properly a sublimate 

 rising to the surface. 



There was a most striking difference between the clots obtained from these bleed- 

 ings. That from the first was quite natural, being red on the surface, and without 

 contraction ; while that from the second was cupped and buffy. The buff,, when 

 seen under the serum, was like that of inflammation ; but when viewed attentively, 

 after pouring off the serum, it was found to consist of transparent fibrin, with very 

 opaque filamentous and granular particles imbedded in it. 



The only conclusion that can be drawn from the last part of this 

 experiment is, that alcohol has no effect in rendering the serum of 



