CHLORIDE OF SODIUM. 431 



not merely constantly present, but also that it is combined in tole- 

 rably definite proportions in the different constituent parts. For 

 it is an established law, that the different animal fluids always 

 strive to attain a similar chemical constitution. This law, to which 

 we must subsequently recur more in detail, includes the protein- 

 compounds, which, if they are taken in excess, certainly are decom- 

 posed in the ordinary manner, but are eliminated as rapidly as pos- 

 sible by the kidneys under the form of urea and uric acid. 



The chloride of sodium in normal human blood stands in a 

 tolerably constant ratio to its other soluble constituents, the limiting- 

 ratios being 3 : 1 and 2'4 : 1. Berzelius* found 6 parts in 1000 of 

 the serum of human blood, and Marcetf 6*6 in 1000 parts of blood, 

 which corresponds to about 5'5 in 1000 of serum; NasseJ obtained 

 from 4 to 5 parts of chloride of sodium from 1000 of blood, Denis 

 from 3'537 to 3*668 parts, and Becquerel and Rodier|| from 2'3 to 

 4*2 parts; the mean of 11 analyses of men's blood yielding 3'1, and 

 of 8 analyses of women's blood 3'5 parts. In 1000 parts of my own 

 blood in a normal state I found 4' 138 parts of chloride of sodium, 

 and after the use of very salt food, which caused intense thirst, it 

 amounted to 4*148; an hour after taking two ounces of salt, and 

 having in the interval drank about two quarts of water, the quantity 

 was 4' 181. Hence it seems to follow that the animal organism not 

 only removes foreign substances with extraordinary rapidity, but 

 that even useful substances, if they are in excess, are as rapidly as 

 possible eliminated. 



The amount of salt in the blood undergoes great fluctuations 

 in different diseases ; thus Nasse^f and Scherer** found that there 

 was a diminution of the chloride of sodium in inflammatory blood ; 

 O'Shaugnessy, Rayer, and Mulder observed this strikingly in 

 cholera ; Nasse also observed it in the blood of a diabetic patient, 

 Lecanu in cases of jaundice, and Jennings and Simon in chlorotic 

 patients : an augmentation of the salt in the blood has been noticed 

 by Fremy in sea-scurvy and by Nasse in the rot in sheep. My 

 experiments have left it very doubtful whether the salts of the 

 blood are diminished in tuberculosis, since it is not often that we 

 can obtain the blood of tuberculous patients, except when some 



* Lehrb. d. Chem. Bd. 9, S. 98. 



t Medico-Chir. Trans. Vol. 2, p. 370. 



1 Handworterbuch d. Physiol. Bd. 1, S. 167. 



Journ. de Chim. m^d. T. 4, p. 111. 



|| Gaz. mdd. 1844, No. 48. 



TI Das Blut. 1836, S. 28?. 



** Haeser's Arch. Bd. 10. 



