62 PHYSIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY. 



Summary of the elementary composition of the above mentioned and 

 described albuminous bodies: 



C H N S O 



Fibrinogen 53.93 6.90 16.66 1.25 22.26 (HAMMAESTEN.) 



Fibrin 52.68 6.83 1691 1.10 22.48 



Fibrin globulin.... 52.70 698 16.06 



Serum globulin.... 54.71 7.01 15.85 1.11 23.24 

 Serum albumin (1).. 53.06 6.85 16.04 1.80 22.26 

 Serum albumin (2).. 52.25 6.65 15.88 225 22.95 



The serum albumin (2) came from a human exudation, and the other bodies 

 from the blood of a horse. The fibrin was prepared from a filtered common- 

 salt plasma. 



The Blood-serum. 



As above stated, the blood-serum is the clear liquid which is 

 pressed out by the contraction of the blood-clot. It differs chiefly 

 from the plasma in the absence of fibrinogen and the presence of a 

 little fibrin globulin and an abundance of fibrin ferment. Consid- 

 ered qualitatively the blood-serum contains the same chief con- 

 stituents as the blood-plasma. 



If undiluted serum be sufficiently acidified with acetic acid, a precipitate is 

 obtained consisting of partly unchanged serum globulin, fibrin globulin, leci- 

 thin, and, in some cases, coloring matters (bile coloring matters in the serum 

 of the horse). By the same process WOOLDRIDGE precipitated from the 

 blood serum of the sheep and dog a substance which is closely related to 

 fibrinogen and was called by him " serum fibrinogen." 



Blood-serum is a sticky liquid which is more alkaline than the 

 plasma. The specific gravity in man is 1.027 to 1.032, average 1.028 

 The color is strongly or faintly yellow; in human blood-serum it is 

 pale yellow with a shade towards green, and in horses it is often 

 amber-yellow. The serum is ordinarily clear; after a meal it may 

 be opalescent, cloudy, or milky-white, according to the amount of 

 fat contained in the food. 



Besides the above-mentioned bodies, the following constituents 

 are found in the blood-plasma or blood-serum : 



Fat occurs from 1-7 p. m. in fasting animals. After partaking 

 of food the amount is increased, and if the food is rich in fat as 

 much as 12.5 p. m. has been found in the blood of dogs (ROHRIG). 

 We also find soaps (HOPPE-SEYLER), cholesterin, and lecithin. 



Glucose seems to be a physiological constituent of the plasma. 

 According to the investigations of ABELES, EWALD, KULZ, and 

 SEEGEN, the sugar found in the plasma is glucose. OTTO found in 

 the plasma, besides glucose, another reducing, non-fermentable sub- 

 stance. The amount of glucose in the blood is about 1-1.5 p. m. 



