ITS AMOUNT OF WATER. 239 



traces of fibrin, and sometimes no true fibrin whatever. In the 

 fibrin of the portal blood I found from 6-1 to 7'8-J, and F. C. 

 Schmid from 7*4 to 8'7-- of fat. 



Schmid describes the fibrin of the portal blood as a greasy, 

 viscid, or gelatinous mass. In horses which had been fed some 

 (5 to 10) hours before death, I found the fibrin precisely similar 

 in character to that of jugular venous blood ; it likewise always 

 formed a very dense and consistent crust in coagulated portal 

 venous blood. Moreover, I could not discover that this fibrin was 

 very readily soluble in a solution of nitre. 



We will now proceed to consider the constituents of the serum, 

 and in the first place the quantity of water which it contains in 

 different conditions. On this subject we are also indebted to Nasse 

 for our most accurate information. We need not here again repeat 

 that the quantity of water in the serum influences the quantity in 

 the blood -cells, and that consequently the following statements, 

 regarding the augmentation or diminution of the water, may be 

 regarded as referring to the whole mass of the blood. All experi- 

 menters, without exception, concur in the statement that the 

 serum of women is richer in water than that of men ; and the most 

 recent comparison of the two kinds of blood (that, namely, by 

 Schmidt) yields the same result; in the serum of man's blood 

 Schmidt found 90'S84, and in that of woman's blood 9 17 15 - of 

 water. In pregnancy the blood is still richer in water. Serum 

 obtained from the placenta contains, according to Poggiale,* less 

 water than that from new-born infants ; the blood of new-born 

 infants, however, contains less than that of adults ; in old age the 

 quantity of water again visibly rises. Nasse, on the other hand, 

 found that the blood of the embryonic animal was richer in water 

 than that of the mother. 



In different animals the quantity of water in the serum and in 

 the blood presents considerable variations ; Prevost and Dumas, 

 Berthold, Nasse, and more recently Poggiale, have instituted 

 extensive series of comparative investigations; notwithstanding 

 many differences in individual details, the results of these observers 

 coincide in the following points : namely, that the serum of the. 

 amphibia contains the largest amount of water, and that of birds, 

 on an average, a larger quantity than that of the mammalia ; 

 and that of the latter class, the serum of swine contains the least, 

 and that of goats and sheep the most water. 



* Compt. rend. T. 25, p. 198-201. 



