PKOPERTIES ANT> COMPOSITION OF LYMPH. 519 



count of this deficiency in fibrin, lymph is much inferior to 

 the blood in coagulability, and the coagulum, when it is 

 formed, is soft and friable. There does not appear, however, 

 to be any actual difference between the coagulating principle 

 of the lymph and the fibrin of the blood. 



Lassaigne found, in the lymph of the cow, that the quantity 

 of albumen was a little less than one-half the proportion con- 

 tained in the blood ; but in most analyses of human lymph, 

 the proportion has been much less. The analyses of Gubler 

 and Quevenne, however, give a somewhat greater quantity 

 of albuminoid matter (caseous matter), the proportion in one 

 analysis being 42-75, and in the other 42'80 parts per 1,000. 

 There appears, also, to be some difference between the albu- 

 minoid matter of the lymph and the albumen of the blood. 

 Gubler and Quevenne speak of the substance found in one 

 lymph as caseiform matter ; and Hensen speaks of a propor- 

 tion of serum-albumen and of albuminous matter precipitated 

 by acetic acid. The albuminoid matter of the lymph, there- 

 fore, would seem to possess certain distinctive characters ; 

 but we know so little of the function of this fluid, that it is 

 impossible to assign to these substances any special physio- 

 logical properties. 



Fatty matters have generally been found more abun- 

 dantly in the lymph than in the blood ; but their proportion 

 is even more variable than that of the albuminoid substances. 



Yery little remains to be said concerning the ordinary 

 inorganic constituents of the lymph. The analyses of Dahn- 

 hardt have shown that nearly, if not all, of the inorganic 

 matters which have been demonstrated in the blood are 

 contained in the lymph ; and even a small proportion of iron 

 is given in the analyses of Gubler and Quevenne. 



These facts indicate a remarkable correspondence be- 

 tween the composition of the lymph and that of the blood. 

 All of the constituents of the blood exist in the lymph, the 

 only difference being in their relative proportions. It is the 

 same with the corpuscular elements ; for the so-called lymph- 



