OF DKINKS. 661 



views will be detailed under the head of Venous Absorption. We may 

 merely observe, at present, that water, the chief constituent of all 

 drinks, is an essential component of every circulating fluid ; that 

 we have no evidence that any action of elaboration is exerted upon it: 

 and that the ingenious and satisfactory experiments of Prof. J. K. 

 Mitchell, 1 of Philadelphia, have shown, that it penetrates most, if not 

 all, animal tissues better than any other liquid; and, consequently, 

 passes through them to accumulate in any of its own solutions. It is 

 probably in this way, that is, by imbibition, that all venous absorp- 

 tions are effected. 



But it has been said : if fluids pass so readily through the coats of 

 the veins, by reason of the extensive mucous surface, with which 

 they come in contact, a large quantity of extraneous and heterogeneous 

 fluid must enter the abdominal venous system when we drink freely, 

 and the composition of the blood be consequently modified; and, if it 

 should arrive, in this condition, at the heart, the most serious conse- 

 quences might result. It has, indeed, been affirmed by a distinguished 

 member of the profession 2 in this country, in a more ingenious than 

 forcible argument to support a long-cherished but now almost univer- 

 sally abandoned hypothesis, that "it must at least be acknowledged, 

 that no substance, in its active state, does reach the circulation, since 

 it is shown, that a small portion even of the mildest fluid, as milk or 

 mucilage, oil or pus, cannot be injected into the bloodvessels without 

 occasioning the most fatal consequences." But the effects are here 

 greatly dependent on the mode in which the injection is made. If a 

 scruple of bile be sent forcibly into the crural vein, the animal gene- 

 rally perishes in a few moments. The same occurs, if a quantity of 

 atmospheric air be rapidly introduced into a venous trunk. The ani- 

 mal, according to Sir Charles Bell, 3 dies in an instant, when a very 

 little air is blown in ; and there is no suffering nor struggle, nor any 

 stage of transition, so immediately does the stillness of death take pos- 

 session of every part of the frame. In this way, according to Beau- 

 chene, Larrey, Dupuytren, Warren of Boston, Mott and Stevens of 

 New York, Delpech, and others, operations at times prove fatal; the 

 air being drawn in by the divided veins. If, however, the scruple of 

 bile, or the same quantity of atmospheric air be injected into one of 

 the branches of the vena portae, no apparent inconvenience is sustained. 

 M. Magendie 4 concludes, from this fact, that the bile and atmospheric 

 air, in their passage through the myriads of small vessels into which the 

 vena portas divides and subdivides in the substance of the liver, become 

 thoroughly mixed with the blood, and thus arrive at the vital organs 

 in a condition to be unproductive of mischief. This view is rendered 

 the more probable by the fact, that if the same quantity of bile or of 

 air be injected very slowly into the crural vein, no perceptible incon- 

 venience is sustained. Dr. Blundell 5 injected in this manner five 

 drachms into the femoral vein of a very small dog, with only tempo- 



1 American Journal of the Medical Sciences, vii. 44, 58. 



2 Chapman, Elements of Therapeutics, 6th edit., p. 47, Philad., 1831. 



3 Animal Mechanics, P. ii. p. 42, London, 1829. 



* Precis Elementaire, 2de edit., ii. 433. 6 Medico-Chirurg. Trans, for 1818, p. 65. 



