CHANGES IN THE BLOOD IN THE LTVEB, 329 



Changes in the Albuminoid and the Corpuscular Ele- 

 ments of the Blood in passing through the Liver. In verify- 

 ing the observations of Bernard upon the presence of sugar 

 in the blood of the hepatic veins, Lehinann was led to observe 

 other differences in the composition of the blood from 

 these vessels, as compared with the portal blood and the 

 blood of the arterial system. One of the most important of 

 these was the absence of fibrin. While the portal blood co- 

 agulates strongly, like blood from any other part of the body, 

 the^ blood of the hepatic veins does not coagulate, and " the 

 fibrin is either entirely absent, or is present in mere traces." * 

 This observation has been confirmed by Brown-Sequard, 8 

 and, later, by M'Donnell, who describes a peculiar caseous 

 matter as existing specially in the blood of the hepatic 

 veins. 3 Lehmann also noted that the proportion of serum 

 to corpuscles was much less in the hepatic than in the por- 

 tal blood. The serum from the hepatic veins was found to 

 present a diminution in albumen, amounting to fully one- 

 third. 



Some very curious observations were also made by Leh- 

 mann upon the blood-corpuscles in the hepatic vessels. He 

 estimated that the proportion of white corpuscles in the 

 blood of the hepatic veins was at least fivefold the propor- 

 tion in the portal blood. He also noted certain differences 

 in the appearance of the red corpuscles, which he explained 

 by the supposition that the liver was the seat of development 

 of these elements, which were formed from the white cor- 

 puscles, and that the blood of the hepatic veins contained a 



1 LEHMAXN, Physiological Chemistry, Philadelphia, 1855, TO!, i., p. 489. Sev- 

 eral years before, Simon observed that fibrin was separated with difficulty from 

 the blood of the hepatic veins, and was not to be found in the blood of the 

 renal veins (SiMON, Animal Chemistry, Philadelphia, 1846, pp. 174, 178). 



2 BROWN-SEQUARD, Sur des faits qui semblent montrer que plusieurs kilo- 

 grammes de fibrine se forment et se transformer^, chaque jour dans le corps de 

 Vhomme, Journal de la physiologie, Paris, 1858, tome i., p. 300. 



3 M'DONNELL, Observations on the Functions of the Liver, Dublin, 1865, 

 p. 34. 



