475 



Royal Society a short communication descriptive of the changes pro- 

 duced in the blood by the administration of cod-liver oil and cocoa- 

 nut oil, and advanced the conclusion deduced from chemical analysis, 

 that any favourable result derived from the administration of these 

 oils is associated with an increase in the proportion of red cor- 

 puscles. Having availed myself of opportunities for continuing the 

 investigation, I beg to present the results to the Society. 



The chief particulars observed are exhibited in a tabular form, 

 but it may be desirable briefly to detail the most important cir- 

 cumstances in some of the instances adduced. 



In two of the patients no oil had been given ; both were men, the 

 subjects of advanced consumption. In one of them, Edward D., 

 the proportion of red corpuscles was only 98'20 in 1000 of blood. 

 In the other, D. D., similarly affected, it was 119'64. 



When cod-liver oil, was administered, but failed to produce any 

 favourable effect on the general condition of the patient, a similar 

 spareness in the proportion of blood-corpuscles was observable. 

 Thus, for example, James H., a man affected with phthisis in the 

 third stage, had taken the oil for four months, but notwithstanding 

 gradually lost strength and weight. His proportion of blood-cor- 

 puscles was 1 14-39, still less than in D. D., a patient to whom no oil 

 had been administered. 



With these cases it is instructive to contrast others in the same 

 period of disease, to whom cod-liver oil had been administered with 

 manifest advantage. 



Sarah Warren, aged 26, with a consumptive cavity in each lung, 

 under a few months' course of the oil gained 10^ pounds in weight, 

 and in other respects materially improved. The proportion of cor- 

 puscles was found on analysis to be 145*68. 



In Edwin P., aged 28, affected with a similar condition of both 

 lungs, who improved considerably and gained 4 pounds in weight, 

 under two months' continuance of the oil treatment, the red cor- 

 puscles existed in nearly the same proportion as in the female last 

 mentioned, being 145 '5 6. 



Thomas N., a patient with a consumptive cavity (indicated 

 amongst other signs by cracked pipkin sound on the left side), 

 having taken the oil for some months, gained 13 pounds in weight. 

 The proportion of red discs was 157*78. It may be interesting to 



