A 
TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 111 
and proceeded : “ It is well known that the ‘ elements of respiration’ may be stored 
up in the body by a process of deposition in the form of fat, to meet the urgent 
demands involving a large expenditure of these elements, to which variation of external 
temperature and other circumstances occasionally expose the animal. Not so, how- 
ever, the ‘ plastic elements of nutrition;’ these are appropriated only as required for 
immediate use in the renovation of the tissues ; and if from any cause one of them 
happen to be in excess in the blood, whether absolutely, as the direct result of indi- 
gestion, or relatively, by loss of some of the allied constituents, then a process which 
may be conveniently designated elemental adjustment is set up, by which the principle 
in excess continues to be discharged from the system till it attains the normal pro- 
portion relatively to the other staminal elements.” 
In proof of the existence of this self-adjusting power in the blood, the observation 
of Kaupp was mentioned, to the effect that the quantity of chloride of sodium 
excreted by the kidneys, usually observed a definite proportion to that taken by the 
animal; but if this salt be withheld for some time and then given in large quantity, 
the kidneys are found to eliminate Jess than the quantity taken : also that of Andral, 
that the first effect of hemorrhage on the constitution of the blood is a decrease of 
the corpuscles only; but if it (the hemorrhage) be prolonged or repeated, the albumen _ 
and fibrine are found to have undergone a corresponding diminution.” In such a 
case, it is asserted by Becquerel and Rodier that the equilibrium is not restored 
through the blood lost, in which the corpuscles and albumen observe a regular and 
equal ratio of decrease with each subsequent bleeding. Albumen is occasionally found 
in the urine of pregnancy, and may be accounted for on this hypothesis, by the loss 
of blood-corpuscles, often to the amount of 27 parts in 1000, experienced by such 
_ females who are peculiarly anemic. An absolute or relative decrease of the fibrine, as 
in scurvy and plethora, will give rise to spontaneous hemorrhage, by which the 
equilibrium is restored between the fibrine and globules. The marked pallor in Bright’s 
disease indicates a loss of red corpuscles, amounting, according to the analyses of 
Becquerel and Rodier, to nearly 10 per cent. The albumen likewise undergoes a 
diminution, greatest towards the termination of the disease. In the chronic form 
of this disease the decrease of corpuscles and albumen was still more marked, whilst 
the fibrine had increased to a mean of 4°37 per thousand. 
In order to test the correctness of the views here set forth in general terms, the 
following experiments were performed ; the object was threefold, viz. 1st, to deter- 
mine the effect produced on the urine by inducing an absolute or relative increase 
of albumen in the blood; 2ndly, the action of urea on the blood-corpuscles as 
exhibited by the microscope; and 3rdly, the proportion of albumen contained in 
the serous effusions of renal and cardiac dropsy respectively. With the first-men- 
tioned object in view, blood was taken from living animals, the effect of which was 
a decrease in the proportion of corpuscles and a relative increase of the albumen of 
the circulating blood. An absolute increase of the albumen was produced by draw- 
ing a small quantity of blood from an animal, and then injecting into the vein an 
equal quantity of a solution of albumen of the temperature and specifie gravity of 
blood-serum. After having been operated upon, the animal was placed under a wire 
crib on a concave zinc table, with an.aperture in the bottom leading into a receiver, 
in which the urine was collected. 
Experiment 1.—A rabbit, weighing 33 lbs., was fed on cabbage, milk and water ; 
the urine passed next day was feebly alkaline, specific gravity 1020, and free of 
albumen: the animal was then bled to 6 drachms, and fed on fresh grass and warm 
milk ; the urine examined next day presented the same reaction and specific gravity, 
but became distinctly opalescent by heat and nitric acid. 
Experiment 2.—A dog, weighing 18lbs., was fed on milk and stirabout; urine 
neutral, specific gravity 1020, contained no albumen: the animal was bled to 8 
ounces on the 18th August; on the 19th, the urine collected during the previous night 
was examined and found neutral, specific gravity 1030 ; it contained a trace of albu- 
men. Examined again on the 20th, the urine was found alkaline; its specific gravity 
had fallen to 1020, still a trace of albumen. Aug. 21, specific gravity 1022; albu- 
men as on yesterday. The quantity of blood taken in the experiments was deter- 
mined by the estimate of Welker, according to which the total quantity in the body 
_ of an animal is equal to ';th its weight. 
