490 



FLUID PRODUCTS 



from this fluid. The mucin left, on incineration, an ash of 

 phosphate of lime. 



Dropsical fluids. The fluids that collect in different parts of 

 the body, especially in the cavities of the abdomen and thorax, 

 and in the subcutaneous cellular tissue, in a certain class of 

 disorders (dropsies), have been frequently submitted to chemical 

 analysis. Fluids of this nature are usually of a faint yellow colour, 

 and more or less turbid; flocculi of coagulated fibrin are some- 

 times present, and occasionally, after acute inflammatory attacks, 

 they contain so large an amount of that constituent as to assume 

 a gelatinous consistence. Their specific gravity varies from 10] 

 to 1020 or higher ; their reaction is alkaline, and they some- 

 times contain so small a quantity of albumen as only to be 

 rendered slightly turbid by heating, while in other cases the 

 amount is so large that the whole fluid becomes coagulated; 

 the quantity of salts, especially of chloride of sodium, is fre- 

 quently also considerable. If the kidneys are affected, urea is 

 generally present. The fat usually contains cholesterin. 



The following analyses of the fluid found in the brain in 

 cases of hydrocephalus approximate closely in their results : 



Marchand. 



Water 



Solid constituents 



Albumen 



Fat ... 



Alcohol-extract with lactate of soda 



Water-extract 



Chlorides of sodium and potassium 



Earthy phosphates 



Sulphate of soda 



Carbonate of soda 



Soda . . . 0-28 



Marcet obtained similar results in his analyses of dropsical 

 fluids. 



Marchand found an extraordinarily large amount of urea in 

 the fluid, removed by tapping, from a woman with ascites. 



1 Of this, 0-21 was cholesterin. 



