90 THE SECRETIONS: 



but left undissolved the small portion of fat that had escaped 

 removal by the alcohol. The portion insoluble in boiling an- 

 hydrous alcohol was freed from the spirit by gentle evaporation, 

 and treated with water which took up pyin, and some albumen 

 probably combined with soda. The insoluble portion consisted 

 of coagulated albumen and pus-corpuscles; the salts were deter- 

 mined by the incineration of a separate quantity of pus. 



Normal pus has been analysed by Giiterbock, Valentin/ 

 G. Bird,2 Wood, 3 [Von Bibra, 4 and Wright. 5 ] The discrepan- 

 cies observable in their results are probably due in a great 

 measure to the different modes of analysis which they adopted. 

 The pus analysed by Giiterbock was taken from a mammary 

 abscess. That which was analysed by Valentin came from a 

 large abscess in a man's thigh ; it was of a yellow colour, neu- 

 tral, of a balsamic odour, and had a specific gravity of 1027. 

 Wood analysed pus from the hand of a young man, and from 

 abscesses in the cheek and breast of a woman. The analysis 

 of the mixture is given below. The pus analysed by Golding 

 Bird was taken from a psoas-abscess, and had a specific gravity 

 of 1040-9. 



GtitertocJc. 



Water . . . . . 861-0 



Solid constituents .... 139-0 



Fat, soluble only in hot alcohol . . 16-0 



Fat and extractive matter, soluble in cold alcohol 43-0 



Albumen, pyin, and pus-corpuscles . . 74-0 

 Loss . . . .6-0 



Valentin. 



Water ..... 883-78 



Solid constituents . . . 116-22 



Cholesterin 11-86 



Oleate of soda, olein, and chloride of potassium 



Stearin 



Coagulated albumen and fibrin 



Fluid albumen and chloride of sodium 



10-02 



6-85 



79-78 



19-34 



1 Valentin's Repertorium, 1838, p. 307. 



2 Ancell's Course of Lectures on the Physiology and Pathology of the Blood, and 

 the other animal fluids. The Lancet, 1839-1840, p. 745. 



3 De puris natura atque formatione disq. phys. Berlin, 1837, p. 10. 



4 Unters. iiber einige verschiedene Eiterarten. Berol. 1842. 



5 Medical Times, Jan. 11, 1845. 



