358 PROTEIN-COMPOUNDS. 



Even in different vessels the blood contains different quantities of 

 fibrin, although the question whether venous or arterial blood con- 

 tain the greater quantity is still unanswered; at all events the blood 

 of the portal vein contains a far less quantity of fibrin than that of 

 the jugular veins; according to the numerous investigations of 

 Schmid*, it is at least three times smaller in the former than in the 

 latter. From some observations of Zimmermann/f it appears that 

 the blood in the veins remote from the heart is richer in fibrin 

 than that in the veins nearer to the central organ of circulation. 



Sex appears to induce no difference in reference to the amount 

 of fibrin in the blood, although the quantity of this constituent is 

 affected both by the period of life and by pregnancy. According 

 to the experiments of Nasse and the more recent investigations of 

 PoggialeJ, the blood of new-born infants contains less fibrin than 

 that of adults, the augmentation in the amount of fibrin being 

 especially striking at the period of puberty. In pregnancy, as 

 appears from the researches of Andral and Gavarret, it is princi- 

 pally in the last three months that the quantity of fibrin increases. 

 During an animal diet, I found that my blood contained a larger 

 amount of fibrin than during a vegetable diet; and Nasse has 

 made experiments on dogs with a similar result. There are more- 

 over many corroborative proofs of the correctness of Nasse's obser- 

 vation that the quantity of fibrin in the blood is increased during 

 prolonged fasting. 



The results independently obtained by Nasse || and Poggiale 

 agree in showing that the blood of herbivorous animals generally 

 contains more fibrin than that of the carnivorous (dogs and cats), and 

 that the blood of birds contains even more than that of the herbivora. 



The results of the quantitative determination of the fibrin in 

 the blood in different forms of disease are very numerous, and on 

 the whole tolerably accordant. The most constant and the most 

 decided augmentation occurs in inflammatory diseases, and espe- 

 cially in acute articular rheumatism ; in the last-named disease the 

 fibrin has been found to reach 1*1 8, and in pneumonia 1'01. 



It is moreover worthy of remark that inflammation in which 

 no fever is present, and likewise mere fevers without inflammation 

 augment the quantity of fibrin in the blood. 



* Heller's Arch. f. Chem. u. Mikrosk. Bd. 4, S. 97-132. 



t Arch. f. phys. Heilk. Bd. 6, S. 586-600. 



t Compt. rend. T. 25, p. 198-201. 



Handworterb. d. Physiol. Bd. 1, S. 148. 



II Journ. f. pr. Ch. Bd. 28, S. 146 ff. 



