144 EXUDATIONS. 



be made to disappear by means of alkalies and akaline salts, on 

 which account we may probably include them amongst the protein- 

 bodies. We shall speak more fully at a future page of the micro- 

 chemical relations of the other cellular structures which may occur 

 in exudations of this kind. These fluids exhibit very different 

 reactions ; they are frequently so strongly alkaline and ammo- 

 niacal that one is disposed to refer their filamentous character 

 to the strongly basic albuminate. The presence of the latter 

 seems to be confirmed by the small quantity of coagulum which 

 the fluid yields on the application of heat, while on evaporation a 

 membrane is formed on the surface (see vol. i, p. 334). Dilute 

 acetic acid frequently gives rise to a strong turbidity in such fluids, 

 and occasionally to the separation of white flakes. 



I have been unable to convince myself of the presence of true 

 casein in such fluids either by the application of rennet or by 

 other means ; the viscid character and the reactions which these 

 exudations exhibit are, therefore, probably owing to the presence of 

 strongly basic albuminates. I have only on two occasions observed 

 an acid reaction in these kinds of exudation (and this was after 

 puerperal pyaemia), and here, also, acetic acid occasioned great 

 turbidity in the filtered, opalescent fluid ; the albumen coagulated 

 into flakes when this exudation was boiled. The latter substance 

 occurs, however, also in some cases when the fluid exhibits a 

 faintly alkaline, or an almost neutral reaction (see above). In 

 those cases in which the exudation has an acid or neutral reaction, 

 the surface of the fluid, after the removal of the coagulated albu- 

 men, becomes covered on evaporation with a membrane, without, 

 however, exhibiting the presence of true casein. 



Notwithstanding the thick fluid character of these exudations, 

 they seldom contain any large quantities of non-volatile matters, 

 from 4 to 6% being the highest amount that I have found in these 

 fluids. The amount of fat is not inconsiderable, although it fre- 

 quently does not exceed the amount present in the normal, 

 fibrinous, plastic exudations. The non-volatile salts are generally 

 present in larger quantities than in the blood, but on comparing 

 them with the salts of the plastic exudations, taking the solid 

 residue as the unit, the number representing the salts is often 

 higher in the fibrinous than in the albuminous exudations. 

 Although it was found from a comparison of the salts as given 

 by several analyses, that there was a relatively smaller amount of 

 the phosphates in the albuminous than in the fibrinous exudations, 

 this observation requires to be further corroborated ; the more so, 



