136 ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY FOR NURSES 



The paraglobulin has about the same effect as albumin. 

 The fibrinogen produces coagulation; its power to coagu- 

 late is such that it is impossible to obtain it in a fluid 

 condition. 



The mineral salts maintain the alkalinity of the blood. 

 The salt which occurs in largest quantity is sodium chlorid. 



Gases. Besides the constituents just mentioned, the 

 blood contains oxygen and carbon dioxid; 100 volumes of 

 the blood contains about 50 volumes of these gases col- 

 lectively. The proportion varies considerably, but arterial 

 blood always contains about twice as much oxygen and a 

 third less of carbon dioxid than venous blood. The sev- 

 eral constituents of the serum vary with age, sex, and tem- 

 perament. The quantity of water is greater in females 

 than in males; in children and aged persons than in per- 

 sons of middle life, and in the lymphatic temperament 

 than in the sanguine. In healthy males it has a range 

 of from 760 to 800 parts in 1000, and an average of 

 779; in healthy females a range of 773 to 813, with an 

 average of 791. 



The quantity of blood contained in the human body 

 is said to be about ^ of the body weight. 



Clotting of the Blood. When the blood is drawn 

 from a person in health, it solidifies in a very short time 

 into a jelly-like mass, but retains its color and volume. 

 After it has remained a longer time there will be noticed 

 a separation of the constituents, with the formation of a 

 central substance which, after a time, begins to become 

 smaller. After ten to twenty hours what was formerly 

 a coagulated mass of blood becomes separated into two 

 parts, a clot (crassamentum) and a considerable quantity 

 of yellowish fluid, which is known as serum, in which the 

 clot is suspended. The clot thus formed consists of fibrin, 

 which is associated with a large number of cells or blood- 

 corpuscles. Blood, while in the process of solidification, 



