ITS PHYSICAL, CHEMICAL, AND STRUCTURAL CHARACTERS. 183 



External Mammary Splenic 



Jugular Vein. Artery. Vein. 



Water 778.9 750.6 746.3 



Albumen 79.4 89.5 124.4 



Corpuscles and Fibrin . l ;,r . 141.7 159.9 128.9 



A part of this augmented albumen exists in the form of neutral albuminate of 

 soda ( 20) ; so that the serum of the splenic blood (as shown by Scherer) be- 

 comes turbid on the addition of water. The proportion of fibrin seems to be 

 larger in the blood of the splenic vein than in that of the venous system in 

 general ; but, like that of the mesenteric vein, the separated fibrin is deficient 

 in tenacity, and early passes into the state of liquefaction. The serum of the 

 blood of the splenic vein of the horse was found by M. Beclard in two instances to 

 undergo spontaneous coagulation, five and eight hours after its removal from the 

 crassamentum, in contact with which it had been left for the preceding twenty- 

 four hours. This spontaneous coagulation indicates the existence of a compound 

 of a fibrinous nature, which, however, could not have been fully elaborated, 

 since it did not coagulate with the true fibrin, and which differed from albumen 

 in the spontaneity of its change of state; and we may consider the substance, 

 with much probability, to have been in a transition-state between the two. The 

 peculiar cells containing red corpuscles, which form part of the parenchyma of 

 the Spleen (CHAP. vni. SECT. 3), are not unfrequently to be observed in the 

 blood of the splenic vein; being very abundant, according to Ecker, in that of 

 the horse. 



169. Many comparative observations have been made upon the blood of the 

 venaportaz and of the hepatic vein; but a large part of them, according to M. 

 Cl. Bernard, are vitiated by the fact, that, unless the vena portae be tied, a re- 

 flux of blood takes place into it from the liver, so that the blood which flows 

 when it is wounded is not so much portal as hepatic blood. According to this 

 experimenter, the blood of the hepatic vein is peculiar as containing an increased 

 proportion of sugar and fat, which are generated from its other components 

 during its passage through the liver ( 40, 4547) ; and he also maintains 

 that there is a decided augmentation in the quantity of fibrin which it contains. 1 

 At any rate, the albuminous constituent undergoes some change in passing 

 through the liver, by which it is rendered more fit to enter the general circula- 

 tion; for it has been found by M. Bernard, that whilst a solution of the albu- 

 men of the egg, injected into the jugular vein, speedily occasioned a transuda- 

 tion of albumen into the urine, no such transudation occurred when a similar 

 solution was injected into the vena portse. 3 According to Prof. Lehmann, the 

 blood of the hepatic vein further differs from that of the portal in the follow- 

 ing particulars. " It is far poorer in water; so that, assuming the solid con- 

 stituents of the blood to be equal in both kinds of blood, the quantity of water 

 in the blood of the portal vein is to that in the blood of the hepatic vein as 4 : 3 

 during digestion and when not much drink has been taken, and sometimes as 

 much as 12 : 5 after digestion has been fully accomplished. The clot of the 

 blood of the hepatic vein is bulky, and readily breaks down ; whilst 34 parts of 

 serum are separated from 100 parts of portal blood, only 15 are separated from 

 100 parts of the blood of the hepatic vein. The blood of the hepatic vein is 

 far richer in blood-cells, both colored and colorless, than that of the portal vein ; 

 the colorless corpuscles occur in the most varied shapes and sizes; the colored 

 are seen in heaps of a distinct violet color, and their capsules are less readily 



1 ' <L' Union Medicale," Sept 23, 1850. M. Bernard does not give any details on this 

 point; and he does not seem to have made allowance for the admixture of the blood of the 

 hepatic artery with that of the portal vein. 



2 "Gazette Medicale," 1850. 



