ADDISON^ ON BLOOD-CORPUSCLES. 88 



In the year 1832 numerous cases of epidemic cholera were 

 treated with saline liquids^ injected into the blood, not only 

 without detriment to the patients, but in many instances the 

 injected fluid evidently conduced to the preservation of life. 

 In the ' Provincial Medical JournaP of October, 18 li, eight 

 cases of cliolera treated by injection are reported, in one of 

 which (case 1) ten quarts of a saline liquid were thrown into 

 the circulation in fourteen hours, and the patient recovered. 

 A very remarkable case is reported in the ' Lancet,' in which 

 five gallons of a saline fluid were injected by a vein in the 

 course of four days. At seven in the morning of the .29th 

 of May an injection of ten pounds of the fluid, with ten 

 grains of sulphate of quinine, was made ; and on the 2d of 

 June six drops of a solution of morjjhia were added to the 

 fluid used for injection."^ 



Now Mr. Erichson does not state that the substances given 

 to Furley in any way impaired his health. The only evidence 

 of their passage through the blood was that they were found 

 in the urine. And, with respect to the cholera cases, there 

 is abundant evidence that the condition of the patients was 

 improved by the liquids forced into the blood. Knowing, 

 then, the great importance of the red corpuscles of the blood 

 in the functions of life, the natural inference is that they 

 were not injured in their essential properties by the proceed- 

 ings in either of the two examples. And it would seem that 

 prussiate of potass is a salt which may pass through the 

 liquor sanguinis without disturbing either the corpuscles of 

 the blood or the cellular elements of any of the fixed organs, 

 except perhaps those of the kidney. 



Dark or venous blood, inclosed in a moist bladder and 

 exposed to the air, soon assumes the bright arterial tint. 

 The change of colour has reference to the corpuscles, and 

 the experiment proves that these bodies do not lose this, 

 one of their most striking properties, until at least some time 

 after their withdrawal from the body. 



In the preceding number of this Journal, (January, 1861) 

 we have described and figured certain changes of form or 

 outline which blood-corpuscles spontaneously undergo when 

 just withdrawn from the human body (p. 20, Plate III) ; also 

 the changes of form tliey experience by mingling weak 

 saline, alkaline, and acid fluids with the liquor sanguinis. 

 Moreover, we have shown that corpuscles Avhich have been 

 thus changed may be restored to their normal form and 

 appearance by a counteracting agent. Acids restore them 



* 'Laucet,' 1831-32, vol. ii, p. 7iS. Also, for another remarkable ease, 

 see 'Lancet,' 1831-32, yol. ii, p. 275. 



