on the Blood of Cholera Patients. 303 



I shall venture to give one other table, because I believe its 

 results have not been published in any English work, and they 

 are essential to a correct knowledge of the composition of the 

 blood. 



The variation in cholera blood from the healthy standard 

 is not so great as is generally supposed. The water is not 

 only in every case below the mean of healthy blood, but 

 below the minimum in the experiments of Lecanu, and the 

 albumen is proportionally increased. In the analyses of 

 Prevost and Dumas and of Lecanu, the fibrin was not sepa- 

 rated from the red globules, nor do I know of any experiment 

 worthy of confidence on the amount of the former consti- 

 tuent in healthy blood ; it is generally estimated at about five 

 per cent., but I am inclined to believe that it is not one tenth 

 of that quantity. Indeed it is with diffidence that I publish 

 the results I have obtained from cholera blood, as I am satis- 

 fied that the process suggested by Dr. O'Shaughnessy is the 

 only one susceptible of precision. It was, however, followed 

 in the last experiment, and the results agreed with those ob- 

 tained by the other method. Another source of fallacy is this; 

 — that the temperature at which fibrin is decomposed seems 

 much lower than that necessary to decompose other animal 

 principles : but further experiments are necessary to elucidate 

 this point. I shall only furtlier observe, that in the heart from 

 which the specimen No. 1. was taken, scarcely a vestige of 

 fibrin could be discovered. 



But the most interesting and important fact derived from 

 these investigations is, that, contrary to' the conclusions of 

 former experimenters, and apparently in direct opposition to 

 the evidence of the senses, the colouring particles in black 

 cholera blood exist in the same proportion as in the blood of 

 health, varying not more than a half per cent, from the normal 

 standard; and as a much greater diversity is found in the 

 blood of dirterent individuals in health, we must conclude that 

 these slight variations are independent of, and unconnected 

 with, its diseased state. 



These results differ very much from preceding analyses, 

 but it will not be difficult to reconcile them with the experi- 



