THE BLOOD. 235 



perfectly white ; the red coloring matter passing completely 

 away with the water. In this state it appears* to have all the 

 chemical properties of the fibrous matter of muscular flesh. It 

 also resembles the gluten of vegetables, being soft and elastic. 

 The name fibrine is now generally applied to it. 



If FIBRINE is washed and dried, its weight is very small 

 indeed when compared with that of the blood from which it has 

 been obtained. It is, therefore, probable that a considerable 

 proportion of the bulk of the crassainentum, as it forms sponta- 

 neously, depends upon the serum which exists in it, and can be 

 washed away. 



The spontaneous coagulation of the blood, which appears to 

 depend principally upon the Fibrine, may be prevented by the 

 addition of several foreign substances to the blood, when it is 

 drawn. It is subject to great variations that depend upon the 

 state of the body at the time of bleeding ; and in some condi- 

 tions, it does not take place at all.f 



In a majority of dead subjects the blood is found more or 

 less coagulated in the veins ; but in some subjects it is found 

 without coagulation. It is asserted that it does not coagulate 

 in subjects who have died suddenly, in consequence of anger, 

 lightning, or a blow on the stomach. 



The Coloring Matter. 



When the blood-vessels in the transparent parts of certain 

 living animals are examined with magnifying glasses, it appears 

 that the red color of the blood is owing to bodies of a globular 

 form, which are diffused through a transparent fluid. The 

 appearance of these bodies has been examined, with great atten- 

 tion, by many physiologists, since the publication of Leuenhoeck, 

 in the London Philosophical Transactions-! 



* By the experiments of Mr. Charles Hatchett, published in the London Phi- 

 losophical Transactions for 1800. 



f See an Inquiry into the Properties of the Blood, by the late William Hew- 

 son : and Experiments by his son^ T. T. Hewson, in the Eclectic Repertory, 

 Jan. 1811. See, also, a Treatise on the Blood, ice, by the late J. Hunter. 



:|: Among the most distinguished of these observers were Father De la Torre, 

 Haller, Hewson, Fontana, Spallanzani, J. Hunter, Cavallo. 



Some short accounts of Leuenhoeck's original observations on the Blood are 



