USES OF BLOOD. 107 



them, which can scarcely be said to take part in the nutri- 

 tion of the body, but are rather the means and evidence 

 of the combustion before referred to, on which to a great 

 extent, directly or indirectly, all vitality depends. 



Albumen. The albumen, which exists in so large a pro- 

 portion among the chief constituents of the blood, is with- 

 out doubt mainly for the nourishment of those textures 

 which contain it or one of the compounds, as gelatin and 

 syntonin, so nearly allied to it (see p. 24). What relationship 

 may exist between the albumen of the liquor sanguinis 

 and that modification of it, the globulin, contained in the 

 red corpuscles, or how each is related to the parts to be 

 nourished, is still a matter of uncertainty. Besides its 

 purpose in nutrition, the albumen of the liquor sanguinis is 

 doubtless of importance also in the maintenance of those 

 essential physical properties of the blood to which refer- 

 ence has been already made. 



Fibrin. It has been mentioned in a previous part of this 

 chapter that the idea of fibrin existing in the blood, as 

 fibrin, is probably founded in error ; and that it is formed 

 in the act of coagulation by the union of two substances, 

 which before existed separately (p. 71). In considering, 

 therefore, the functions of fibrin, we may exclude the notion 

 of its existence, as such, in the blood in a fluid state, and of 

 its use in the nutrition of certain special textures, and look 

 for the explanation of its functions to those circumstances, 

 whether of health or disease, under which it is produced. 

 In hemorrhage, for example, the formation of fibrin in the 

 clotting of blood, is the means by which, at least for a 

 time, the bleeding is restrained or stopped ; and the material 

 which is produced for the permanent healing of the injured 

 part, contains a coagulable material probably identical, or 

 very nearly so, with the fibrin of clotted blood. 



Fatty Matters. The fatty matters of the blood subserve 

 more than one purpose. For while they are the means, at 

 least in part, by which the fat of the body, so widely dis- 

 tributed in the proper adipose and other textures, is 



