1835.] Lymph, Blood, and Chyle. 19 



with great astonishment, that the blood globules in inflamed 

 blood sink as slowly under the surface as in healthy blood. 

 This led him to the fact that the globules sink much slower 

 when the fibrin remains dissolved in the blood, than when 

 blood is strained and the fibrin separated. He placed some 

 blood in three separate vessels. To one of these he added 

 a drop of a solution of carbonate of potash, in another fresh 

 blood, and in the third strained blood. The result of his 

 trials was, that inflamed and healthy blood, and that of preg- 

 nant women, exhibit the interesting appearance of globules 

 sinking very rapidly under the surface ; and, in all cases, it 

 was found that the globules in healthy blood in five or six 

 minutes sunk 1 or 1 J lines, and within an hour 4 or 5 lines. 

 The supernatant liquid was always whitish, and when too 

 much carbonate of potash was not added it coagulated into 

 a soft fibrin, which in one case was covered by a kind of 

 crust. Scudamore has shewn that inflamed blood contains 

 more fibrin than healthy blood. Blood containing fibrin 

 in solution possesses a higher specific gravity than blood 

 freed from fibrin, and it is obvious that globules which are 

 specifically heavier than the liquid portion, must remain 

 suspended in it if they adhere to it until this adhesion 

 ceases, when they will fall down. The adhesion of the 

 globules is much greater to serum which is freed by straining 

 from fibrin, than to serum which contains fibrin in solution, 

 and whose coagulation is impeded. This might easily be 

 accounted for, because the globules have a great attraction 

 for water, which dissolves them in every proportion. 



Serum, which contains albumen in solution, has more 

 attraction for the globules than blood which possesses both 

 albumen and fibrin. We can produce a rapid descent of 

 the globules in the strained blood of men and cats, by 

 mixing it with a concentrated solution of gum-arabic ; not 

 so, however, in that of sheep and oxen. When coagulation 

 takes place slowly, the portions of fibrin and albumen must 

 have a greater attraction for each other than for the glo- 

 bules ; and when the globules are heavier than the solution 

 of albumen and fibrin, the attracted portions of the speci- 

 fically lighter solution will collect above and the globules 

 below. The consequence, therefore, is, that slow coagu- 

 lating inflamed blood contains more globules and less liquid 



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