INTRODUCTION. xlv 



both been described long before Mr. Hunter published on 

 those subjects. After stating that the coagulation of the 

 blood out of the circulation would seem to be unconnected with 

 life, 1 Mr. Hunter 2 says that he conceives the simple act of 

 coagulation, apart from its causes, to be an operation of life, 

 proceeding upon the same principle as union by the first in- 

 tention, adding that the coagulation of the blood appears to be 

 that process which may be compared with the action of life in 

 the solids. He gave an excellent description of the toughness 

 and elasticity of a clot of fibrin, and of its fibrous and laminated 

 structure; and when he inferred how a membrane may be 

 formed of that part of the blood, he was entering on a most 

 interesting and philosophical inquiry, which he pursued with 

 a perseverance and success very characteristic of his ardent 

 genius. In blood removed from the body, he proved, experi- 

 mentally, that no heat is produced during the act of coagulation ; 

 and he described, in anticipation of some of the most recent 

 observations, the aggregation of the red corpuscles and the con- 

 sequent mottled appearance of the blood during the formation 

 of the buffy coat. 3 



About the time when Mr. Hunter's ( Treatise on the Blood' 

 appeared, the term fibrin was introduced by the French che- 

 mists, and used in its present sense by Fourcroy, in his ' Sys- 

 teme des Connaissances Chimiques/ published at Paris in 1 801 . 



The old observations on the fibrous structure of fibrin have 

 often since been revived, and sometimes insisted on as dis- 

 tinguishing it from coagulated albumen, particularly by Dr. 

 Henry, 4 Mr. Dowler, 5 and Dr. Alison; 6 while the fibrils of 

 fibrin have been examined again with the aid of the micro- 

 scope by Lauth, 7 Magendie, 8 and many others. Heidmann 9 



1 See Note xn, p. 21. 



2 Works, ed. by Mr. Palmer, vol. iii, pp. 20, 34, 113, 23-24,35-36 ; and vol. i, p. 235. 



3 See Notes xxi, xxm, and xxix. 



4 Epitome of Chemistry, p. 125, 12mo, London, 1801. 



5 Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, vol. xii, p. 87, 8vo, London, 1822. 



6 Outlines of Physiology and Pathology, p. 43, 8vo, Edinburgh, 1833. 



7 L'Institut, Journal General desSocietes et Travaux Scientifiques, No. 70, p. 301, 

 4to, Paris, Sept. 13, 1834. 



8 Lectures on the Blood, Lancet, 1838-39, vol. i, pp. 460, 255. 



9 Noticed in Tiedemann's Systematic Treatise on Comparative Physiology, tr. by 

 Drs. Gully and Lane, vol. i, p. 150, 8vo, London, 1834. 



