CHYLE, LYMPH, TRANSUDATIONS AND EXUDATIONS. 123 



composition; therefore a quantitative analysis is of little impor- 

 tance except in determining the quantity of albumin. 



Pericardial Fluid. The quantity of this fluid is also, under 

 certain physiological conditions, so large that a sufficient quantity 

 for chemical investigation was obtained from a person who had been 

 executed. This fluid is lemon-yellow in color, somewhat sticky, 

 and yields more fibrin than other transudations (6-8 p. m.). The 

 amount of solids, according to the analyses performed by v. GORUP- 

 BESANEZ, WACHSMUTH, and HOPPE-SEYLER, is 37.5-44.9 p. m.,and 

 the amount of albumin is 22.8-24.7 p. m. In a case of chyloperi- 

 cardium, which was probably due to the rupture of a chylus vessel 

 or caused by a capillary exudation of chyle because of stowing, 

 HASEBROEK found in 1000 parts of the analyzed fluid 103.61 parts 

 Bolids, 73.79 albuminous bodies, 10.77 fat, 3.34 cholesterin, 1.77 

 lecithin, and 9.34 salts. 



The pleural fluid occurs under physiological conditions in such 

 small quantities that a chemical analysis of the same cannot be 

 made. Under pathological conditions this fluid may show very 

 variable properties. In a few cases it is nearly serous, in others 

 again sero-fibrinous, and in others similar to pus. There is a 

 corresponding variation in the specific gravity and the properties in 

 general. If a pus-like exudation is kept closed for a long time in 

 the pleural cavity, a more or less complete maceration and solution 

 of the pus-corpuscles is found to take place. The ejected yellowish- 

 brown or greenish fluid may then be as rich in solids as the blood- 

 serum; and an abundant flocculent precipitate of a neucleo-albumin 

 (the pyin of early writers) may be obtained on the addition of 

 acetic acid. This precipitate is soluble with difficulty by adding an 

 excess of acetic acid. 



According to MEHU, who has investigated a great number of 

 pleural fluids, the specific gravity is generally higher than 1.020 in 

 acute pleurisy, the amount of solids is 6.5 p. m., and the quantity 

 of fibrin not higher than 1.2 p. m. In chronic pleurisy with gath- 

 ering of pus the specific gravity is higher than 1.018 and may rise to 

 1.024 (according to the observations of the author it may rise indeed 

 to 1.030). The quantity of solids may in these cases be 60-70 p. m. 

 or even more 90-100 p. m. (AUTHOR). Fibrin is absent. In dis- 

 turbed circulation, as in cirrhosis of the liver or in heart troubles, 



