CHAPTEE I. 



THE BLOOD. 



General considerations Transfusion Quantity Physical characters Opacity 

 Temperature Specific gravity Color Anatomical elements of the blood 

 Eed corpuscles Chemical characters of red corpuscles Development of red 

 corpuscles Formation of red corpuscles Leucocytes, or white corpuscles 

 Development of leucocytes. 



IN all ages, even before physiology became known as a dis- 

 tinct science, the importance of the blood in the animal 

 economy has been recognized ; and with the progress of 

 knowledge this great nutritive fluid has been shown to be 

 more and more intimately connected with the phenomena of 

 life. It is now known to be the most abundant and highly 

 organized of the animal fluids ; providing materials for the 

 regeneration of all parts, without exception, receiving the 

 products of their waste and conveying them to proper organs, 

 by which they are removed from the system. These processes, 

 on the one hand, require constant regeneration of its constit- 

 uents, and on the. other, constant purification by the removal 

 of effete matters. As it has been found desirable to preface 

 our study of general physiology with a history of proximate 

 principles, showing the chemical and vital properties of 

 what maybe considered as the permanent constituents of the 

 body, so before considering individual functions, all of which 

 bear finally on the great process of nutrition, we should 

 have an accurate knowledge of the anatomy and chemistry 



