6o HORSE-BACK RIDING, 



phenomenon of nutrition. It is generally admitted 

 that they are formed in the vessels of all parts of the 

 system. They are born, live, and die there. The 

 albuminoid substances introduced into the blood by the 

 digestive process first undergo a transformation by pass- 

 ing into the globular state, and then they form a new 

 anatomical element, the globule which is nourished 

 like the others and is the seat of the double process of 

 assimilation and separation. Whether it is destroyed 

 in the physiological state is not known, but under 

 certain special pathologic conditions — hibernation, for 

 example — it evidently disappears. Suspended in the 

 plasma in immediate contact with the albuminoid 

 substances and the oxygen which they draw from the 

 lungs, the globules are in the conditions best adapted 

 for the most perfect nutrition. But in proportion as 

 they assimilate, they also disintegrate ; and fibrin, the 

 first degree of oxidation of the albumen, is the re- 

 sult of this separation. It is this fibrin engendered 

 by the globules, dissolved by the albuminous fluid, 

 which exhales from the vessels and goes to renovate 

 the tissues. 



Physiologists have long recognized in the globules 

 the property of fixing oxygen. This gas seems to be 

 condensed in the globules, as it gives the same reac- 

 tion as ozone, which is nothing but condensed oxygen. 

 It is this oxygen which gives to the globules their 

 bright red color ; it is the oxygen which, by combining 

 with the albuminous substances, transforms them into 



