FIBRIN. 351 



Marchand,* Wurtz,f BoppJ). It is generally supposed that 

 spontaneously coagulated fibrin will dissolve in solutions of cer- 

 tain alkaline salts ; but we should greatly err if we were to regard 

 a fluid thus obtained as a simple solution ; for fibrin not only re- 

 quires a longer period to dissolve in a saline fluid than is 

 necessary for the solution of a simple substance in an indifferent 

 menstruum, but also a higher temperature, and the saline fluid 

 must always be kept for one or more hours at a temperature approxi- 

 mating to the hatching heat (between 30 and 40), before any 

 considerable quantity of fibrin will be dissolved. Moreover, the 

 fibrin should not be too long exposed to the action of the air, if we 

 wish to effect its solution. Denis, who first noticed this solubility 

 of fibrin, Scherer,|| and Polli,^" used for this purpose a solution of 

 3 parts of nitrate of potash in 50 parts of water. Zimmermann** has 

 however shown that solutions of the alkaline sulphates, phosphates, 

 carbonates, and acetates, as well as the chlorides, bromides and 

 iodides, might be employed for the same object. The solution thus 

 obtained, which is always imperfect, and contains undissolved por- 

 tions requiring to be removed, is viscid, and at about 73 coagulates 

 in flakes. It differs from an albuminous solution in being strongly 

 precipitated by acetic acid (which is only the case to a slight degree 

 with albumen when carefully neutralised) ; it is not coagulated by 

 ether, in which respect it differs from the naturally dissolved sub- 

 stance which forms fibrin. When the fibrin has been digested for 

 a sufficient length of time, the solution is not rendered turbid by 

 dilution with water, as is the case after digestion for only a short 

 period. At an ordinary temperature, the clear solution remains for a 

 long time unaffected by the atmosphere, only depositing solid par- 

 ticles after it has absorbed oxygen, when it has passed into a state 

 of putrefaction, and exhibits vibriones. 



Scherer thought that he had proved that the fibrin from arterial 

 blood or from venous blood in inflammatory diseases could not be 

 converted into this albuminous substance by saline solutions. This 

 view has been contradicted by Zimmermann, but the subject has 

 not yet been fully investigated. My own experiments tend to 

 show that the fibrin of the venous blood of the ox very speedily 



* Lehrb. d. physiol. Chem. 8. 69. 



t Ann. de Chim. et de Phys. T. 11, p. 258. 



t Ann. d. Ch. u. Pharm. Bd. 69, S. 16-37- 



$ Arch. g&i. de M&J. 3 S&-. T. l,p. 171. 



|| Op. cit. 



IT Ann. univ. di med. 1839. Apr. pp. 25-33. 



** Casper's Wochenschr. No. 30, 1843. 



