CHAP. IIT.] THE BLOOD IN DISEASE. 143 



Fatg V. The nor ma amount of fatty matters in healthy blood 



varies, according to Becquerel and Rodier, between 1 and 

 3-3 parts in 1000. It is said that the fats of the blood are increased in 

 pneumonia, in alcoholism, in diabetes, in Bright's disease, in the hepatitis 

 of hot climates, in cases of chylous urine, in some cases of acute rheumatism, 

 and in many acute and chronic cases of poisoning 1 . The information on 

 many of these points is in the highest degree unsatisfactory. 



VI. The amount of cholesterin in normal blood varies 



and LecUh n probably between 0-5 and 2-0 parts per 1000. According to 



Becquerel and Rodier this constituent increases in quantity 



in all acute febrile affections, in all acute inflammations, and especially in 



cases of jaundice in which there is almost complete retention of bile. 



We possess no information whatever as to the amount of lecithin 

 present in the blood in disease ; indeed our knowledge of the proportions 

 present in health only rest on a very few analyses by Judell and Hoppe- 

 Seyler. 



Sugar. VII. Sugar is increased in the blood of diabetes, as will 



be mentioned under that disease. 



Urea, Uric VIII. Amongst the so-called extractive matters present 



acidandotner j n the blood, urea, uric acid, and hypoxanthine require to be 

 mentioned as being affected in disease. 



The amount of urea in the blood is largely increased in the various 

 forms of Bright's disease 2 , as was first shewn by Christison, in cholera 3 , and 

 in yellow fever. It has been said that this is the case also in diabetes and 

 febrile affections 4 . 



Uric acid 5 , as will be more particularly referred to under Gout, is 

 markedly increased in the blood in acute and chronic cases of that disease. 



Hypoxanthine has been found in considerable quantities in the blood 

 of leucocythaemia 3 ; according to Salomon this body is a constituent of 

 healthy blood. 



Saltg IX. The salts of the Hood, especially the alkaline salts, 



undergo certain changes in disease, though our knowldge is 

 yet very imperfect on this matter. In cholera, the serum of blood, though 

 it contains less salts than normal, contains a larger quantity of salts of 

 potassium; in dysentery, the salts of the serum are said to be increased, 

 and the same holds in the case of Bright's disease. 



Tne Gases ^* ^ s y e * ^ ew ^ ac *s have been collected which throw 



of the Blood. an 7 light upon the proportion of the gases in the blood 



in disease. From a knowledge of the changes which other 



constituents undergo in certain diseases, or from a knowledge of the 



1 Gautier, Chimie appliqute a la physiologic, a la pathologic et a Vhygiene. Vol. u. 

 p. 314. 



2 Christison, On granular degeneration of the kidneys, &c. Edinburgh, 1839. 



3 Scherer, Verh. d. physik.-mcd. Ges. zu Wiirzburg, Vol. n. pp. 321325, and Vol. 

 VIT. pp. 123126. 



Picard, These de Strasbourg, 1856. 



5 Garrod, A Treatise on Gout and Rheumatic Gout. Third ed., 1876, p. 84 et seq. 

 The first researches of this author on this subject were published in the Medico- 

 Chirurgical Transactions, Vol. xxxvu. 



