Bl D 



BLOOD 



the mouth of a funnel, a thin fluid drains from it, which i* called 

 Scrogjty, and which constitutes the gravy of meat dressed for the 

 table. 



According to M. Le Cann the relative proportions of the consti- 

 tuent* of Human Blood to each other, as they exist in most 

 individuals, is an follows, this table being the mean of two analyses : 

 1000 parts of Human Blood contain 



Water 783-37 



Fibrin 2-83 



Albumen f>"->:> 



Colouring Matter* 126-31 



Fatty Matters in various states . . . . 5-16 

 Various undefined Animal Hatters and Salts . . 15-08 



1000*00 



The relative proportion of the different constituents of the blood is 

 constantly varying. Thus the quantity of water, according to M. Le 

 Canu, is capable of varying in 1000 parts from 853*135, the maximum, 

 to 778*625, the minimum. In the male the medium quantity is 

 791*944, in the female 821*764: the watery proportion also varies 

 with the temperament. In the lymphatic temperament, in the male 

 it is 830*566, in the female 803*716; while in the sanguineous it is, 

 in the male 786*584, and in the female it is 793*007. 



The proportion of albumen contained in 1000 parts of blood is 

 capable of varying from 78*270, the maximum, to 57*890, the mini- 

 mum. The quantity of fibrin varies from 1*860 to 7'236, the medium 

 of twenty -two experiments being 4*298. It appeared to be the 

 greatest in the young or middle aged of the sanguineous tempera- 

 ment and in the inflammatory state ; and least in the lymphatic 

 constitution, the aged, and those suffering under congestion and 

 haemorrhage. 



The proportion of the red particles varies more remarkably than 

 that of any other constituent of the blood. In sound health the 

 maximum was found to be in 1000 parts of blood 148*450, and the 

 minimum 68*349 ; the medium 108*399. In the male, the medium 

 quantity is 132*150, in the female 99*169. It varies considerably 

 with the temperament. In the lymphatic temperament, the medium 

 quantity was found to be, in the male 117*667, in the female 116*300 ; 

 in the sanguineous temperament, in the male 136*497, in the female 

 126*174. According to this statement there are contained in 1000 

 part*) of blood, in a sanguineous temperament, 19*830 more red 

 particles than in the lymphatic temperament. Both spontaneous 

 luemorrhage and the artificial abstraction of blood from the body 

 diminish the relative proportion of the red particles far beyond that 

 of any of the other constituents of the blood. This is found on 

 examination of the blood in the female after an excessive loss of 

 blood ; and on examining portions of blood taken from the same body 

 after certain intervals, it was found that a first bleeding furnished in 

 1000 parts of blood, 792*897 of water, 70*210 of albumen, 9*163 of 

 soluble salt* and extraneous matter, and 127*73 of red particles ; but 

 a third bleeding a few days afterwards in the same patient, a female, 

 gave 834*053 of water, 71*111 of albumen, 7*329 of soluble salts and 

 extraneous matter, and 87*510 of red particles. 



According to analyses more recent than those of Le Canu, the 

 following are the ingredient*) which are found to be present in healthy 

 blood: 



1. Water. 

 ["Fibrin. 



2. Protein- I Albumen. 

 Compounds | Globulin. 



^Binoxidc and Tritoxide of Protein. 



3. Colouring f Hecmntin. 



Matters \ Hiemaph**<in. 

 [ Cholesterin. 

 I Serolin. 



4. Fats. lie 1 and white Solid Fats containing Phosphorus. 



Margaric Acid. 

 1 Oleic Acid. 



5. Iron, 



Albuminate of Soda (?). 

 Phosphates of Lime, Magnesia, and Soda. 

 } Sulphate of Potash. 



6. SalU. Carbonates of Lime, Magnesia, and Soda (?). 



Chlorides of Sodium and Potassium. 

 . Lactate of Soda (?). 

 Oleate and Margarate of Soda (.'). 

 Oxygen. 



7. Gases. \ * . 



Carbonic ' 



8. Una a trace. 



9. Sugar a trace (f). 



It will be observed that there are notes of interrogation to several 

 of the salts : the presence of these constituent*) is denie I bv Knderlin 

 and Liebig's school generally. Their objection is founded on the 

 circumstance, that if these salts were exposed to a red heat, they 

 would become converted into carbonates ; ami that tin- a-<h obtained 

 from the incineration of blood, if examined directly after the opera- 

 tion, does not contain those salts. As these experiment* have been 



H-rfornied under Liebig's personal observation, and have been 

 published in his 'Journal, and M further they apply equally to almosj 

 all the other fluids of the animal body, we shall give the leading 

 grounds on which the presence of alkaline carbonates in the ash is 

 disproved, and it* alkalinity is otherwise accounted for : 



1. The ash does not effervesce on the addition of an acid. 



2. Hot water poured over the ash becomes alkaline ; it holds in 

 solution alkaline phosphates and sulphates, chloride of sodium, and 

 sometimes chloride of potassium, but no other salts. 



o. On the addition of a neutral solution of nitrate of silver to this 

 tluid, there is a yellow precipitate which is partly soluble in nitric 

 acid ; a portion however consisting of chloride of silver remains 

 undissolved. The addition of nitric acid causes no effervescence. , 

 On neutralising the acid filtrate with ammonia, a yellow precipitate 

 of tribaaic phosphate of silver (3 A g 0, P, J is thrown down. 



6. On treating the aqueous solution of the ash with a solution of 

 chloride of calcium, there is a copious gelatinous precipitate of phos- 

 phate of lime (3 C a 0, P, 0.) which dissolves in nitric acid without 

 effervescence. On treating this acid solution with nitrate of 

 ami neutralising with ammonia, the tribaaic phosphate of silver is 

 precipitated as before. The addition of the chloride of calcium neu- 

 tralises the previously alkaline fluid. From 1, we see that the 

 alkaline reaction is not due to the presence of alkaline carbonates ; 

 and 2 shows it is not dependent on the presence of free pota-h or 

 soda, for otherwise the fluid would not be neutralised by the chloride 

 of calcium. Hence the albumen in the blood cannot exist as a soda 

 compound (albuminate of soda) ; neither can there be alkaline lactates, 

 acetates, nor fatty-acid salts in that fluid . On the above grounds 

 Knderlin conceives that we are justified in assuming that the alkaline 

 reaction of the ash is dependent on the presence of tribasic phosphate 

 of soda (3 N a O, P, O 5 ) ; and as this is the only salt that remains 

 tribasic at a red heat, he concludes that the alkalinity of the blood, 

 as well aa of the ash, is dependent on it. The manner in which he 

 accounts for the occurrence of carbonates in the analyses of other 

 chemists is very plausible. On exposing the tribasic phosphate of 

 soda to the atmosphere, it becomes converted into 2 N a O, H 0, 

 P, 0,, and N a 0, C O,, or phosphate of soda, in which one atom of 

 the base is replaced by an atom of water and carbonate of soda. 



This question regarding the salts actually occurring in the blood is 

 however far from settled, Ludwig having positively denied Kuderlin's 

 statements. (Day's ' Report on the Progress of Chemistry,' in 

 Hanking'* ' Half-Yearly Abstract of the Medical Sciences,' vol. iii., 

 1846.) 



Generally speaking it is only requisite in the analysis of the 

 blood, to determine a few of the most important constituents ; as, for 

 instance, the water, fibrin, blood-corpuscles (globulin and hieuiatin', 

 and the solid residue of the serum (the organic portion and the salts). 

 For this purpose we may adopt the following simple plan lately 

 published by Figuier. It is based on the fact made known many years 

 ago by Berzelius, that after the addition of a solution of a neutral 

 salt to defibrinated blood, the globules do not (as before) pass through 

 filtering paper. On the addition of two parts of a solution of sulphate 

 of soda of specific gravity 1.130 to one of blood, Figuier found that the 

 whole of the corpuscles remained on the surface of the filter. The 

 following arc the steps of his analysis: The fibrin is removed by 

 stirring, dried, and weighed; the weight of the c>" 

 ascertained by the method indicated, and that of the albumen by 

 coagulating by means of heat the filtered solution. The proportion 

 of water is known by evaporating a small known weight of the blood. 

 The filter containing the corpuscles should be dipped in boiling water, 

 which removes any sulphate of soda that may be present, and at the 

 same time renders the corpuscles insoluble. Separate and f n -<\ 

 difficult processes are requisite to detect those ingredients which occur 

 in Kin-ill quantity or only in morbid conditions. 



With regard to the distinctions between Arterial and Venous Blood, 

 we have already noticed the circumstance that the external envelope of 

 the blood-corpuscles becomes converted during the act of 

 into oxidised protein, and that the bright-red colour of arterial 

 is owing in part to the modifying influence of the white in 

 membrane. But there is yet another mode in which it acts. 'Die 

 buffy coat, which is the namo given to the superimposed layer of 

 fibrin in the clot, is frequently observed on the upper part of the clot 

 in inflammatory diseases as being very apt to curl up and become 

 ow this buffy coat consists, for the i! I tin- 



oxides of protein of the very same matter with which the blood- 

 cor-m-icles become invested. For this reason the form a--mn.d by 

 the two lamina* on both sides of the little flat body tin 

 must resemble that of the buffy coat The tendency to contract and 

 become bi-concave is so strong, that the central portion of the crust 

 becomes entirely depressed. In this form the corpuscles reflect a 

 great deal more light than when, in consequence of the removal of 

 the buffy coat in the capillaries, they have a less bi-concave form. 



I'roin four analyses of the blood of horses, Simon '' 

 following rule regarding the chemical differences of arterial and venous 

 blood: "Arterial s* solid residue generally than *.- 



blood ; it contains less fat, lesn albumen, less hicmatin, h-s- . \ti.i. -live 

 mutter and salts, than vein-n.- Mood. The blood-corpusclcHof arterial 

 blood contain less colouring matter than those of venous blood." 



