CHANGES IN THE BLOOD. 415 



diet increases the amount of fibrin (as I have observed* in my own 

 case,) after living exclusively on purely animal food, and augments 

 the amount of the phosphates and of the salts generally. The 

 quantity of fat in the blood increases even during the first hour 

 after the use of food which is rich in fat ; but it speedily falls 

 again. 



The blood of dogs is for the most part of a somewhat lighter 

 shade of colour when kept on vegetable than when kept on animal 

 food, and the sinking capacity of the blood- corpuscles is somewhat 

 smaller ; the specific gravity of the blood, as well as that of the 

 serum, is increased during the first five hours by a vegetable diet 

 (especially if this Be combined with the simultaneous use of sugar). 

 The amount of fibrin is not altered ; the fat, however, is somewhat 

 diminished, whilst the amount of the salts including that of the 

 phosphates is somewhat lessened. 



Continuous deprivation of food renders the blood somewhat 

 paler in colour, retards its coagulation, and raises the specific 

 gravity both of the blood and of the serum ; the number of the 

 blood-corpuscles is very fluctuating ; the fibrin rises only slightly ; 

 while the amount of the salts is very considerably increased. 



After the last meal the quantity of the solid constituents of 

 the blood increases to the ninth hour, when it again begins to 

 sink. 



The few results which Nasse has been able to deduce from the 

 careful labours which he prosecuted for years, show how unable we 

 still are to trace the metamorphosis of the nutrient matters in 

 nutrition through its individual phases. We have here a confirma- 

 tion of the remarks which we made in our introduction, that our 

 knowledge of the internal metamorphosis of matter is still extremely 

 incomplete, and that it is only by a comparison of the chemical 

 qualities of the different juices and tissues, and more especially by 

 carefully conducted statistics of the final results of the metamor- 

 phosis of animal matter, that we can hope to form a correct judg- 

 ment or arrive at anything like conclusive views. We cannot, 

 therefore, trace in detail the final destinies to which the albu- 

 minates, the fats, the carbo-hydrates, and the salts are subjected'in 

 the animal body, nor can we venture to do more than indicate the 

 facts that lead us to those considerations, which we have already 

 given in relation to the metamorphosis of matter generally (see 

 p. 207). It, therefore, only remains for us to notice, in reference 



* Journ. f. pr. Ch. Bd. 27, S. 16. 



