1889.] On Auto-w fee lion in Cardiac Disease. 309 



II. " On Auto-infection in Cardiac Disease." By L. C. WOOL- 

 DRIDGE, M.D., D.Sc., Assistant Physician to Guy's Hospital. 

 Communicated by Professor VICTOR HORSLEY, B.S., F.R.S. 

 (from the Laboratory of the Brown Institution). Received 

 January 24, 1889. 



In 1886 I described to the Royal Society* a substance, one of the 

 most noticeable features of which was that it caused intra vascular 

 clotting when injected into the circulation of an animal. In subse- 

 quent publications I have further described the action of this 

 substance, or rather group of allied substances, and speak of them as 

 fibrinogens. 



. In particular, I pointed out in my papers in du Bois-Reymond's 

 ' Archiv,' 1886, and in Ludwig's ' Festschrift,' 1887, that the lymph 

 and chyle contained this substance. More exactly I had found that 

 the fluid of lymphatic glands, freed from all form elements, pos- 

 sessed precisely the same action as the fibrinogens, and that the 

 fibrinogen was the active substance in this fluid. The lymph con- 

 tained in serous cavities does not contain this body, hence it is 

 probably formed in the lymphatic glands. Dr. Kriiger, j assistant to 

 Professor Alexander Schmidt of Dorpat, has disputed the correctness 

 of these observations. But I am absolutely certain, from a repetition 

 of my experiments, an account of which I have published elsewhere,^; 

 that Dr. Kriiger is in error, and that my original observations were 

 correct. 



In the present paper I endeavour to show the light which further 

 experiments have thrown on this question, and to point out the 

 probably great importance which fibrinogen intoxication plays in a 

 Jarge and important class of disease, particularly cardiac disease. 



For the purpose of my experiments I have used mainly the thymus 

 gland, as the fluid and the fibrinogen of the thymus is quite similar to 

 that of lymphatic glands, and is more easily obtained. 

 i 



Experiment 1. 



The half per cent. NaCl fluid of the thymus, perfectly fresh, the 

 cells completely removed by the centrifuge. The fluid rendeied 

 faintly alkaline with Na 2 C0 3 . 



Dog I. Weight 19 Ibs. Injected rapidly into the jugular vein 

 8 c.c. of the fluid. Dog killed. The portal vein was thrombosed, 



* " On Intravascular Clotting," and Croonian Lecture Abstract, Apr. 8, 1886. 



f Kriiger, ' Zeirsclirift fur Biologic,' 1887, Heft 2. 



' On the Nature of Coagulation' (pamphlet, London, 1888). 



