338 CHYLE, LYMPH, TRANSUDATES AND EXUDATES. 



following, relative to the quantitative composition, chief stress will be 

 put on the quantity of protein. 



Pericardial Fluid. The quantity of this fluid is, even under physio- 

 logical conditions, so large that a sufficient quantity for chemical inves- 

 tigation has been obtained (from persons who had been executed). This 

 fluid is lemon-yellow in color, somewhat sticky, and yields more fibrin 

 than other transudates. The amount of solids, according to the analyses 

 performed by v. GORUP-BESANEZ, WACHSMUTH, and HoppE-SEYLER, 1 

 is 37.5-44.9 p. m., and the amount of protein is 22.8-24.7 p. m. The 

 analysis made by HAMMARSTEN of a fresh pericardial fluid from a young 

 man who had been executed yielded the following results, calculated in 

 1000 parts by weight: 



Water.. . 960.85 

 Solids 39.15 



f Fibrin 0.31 



Proteins 28.60 \ Globulin 5.95 



[Albumin... . 22.34 



Soluble salts 8.60 NaCl 7.28 



Insoluble salts .--. 0.15 



Extractive bodies 2 . 00 



FRIEND 2 found nearly the same composition for a pericardial fluid 

 from a horse, with the exception that this liquid was relatively richer 

 in globulin. The ordinary statement that pericardial fluids are richer 

 in fibrinogen than other transudates is hardly based on sufficient proof. 

 In a case of chylopericardium, which was probably due to the rupture 

 of a chylous vessel or caused by a capillary exudation of chyle because 

 of stoppage, HASEBROEK 3 found in 1000 parts of the fluid 103.61 parts 

 solids, 73.79 parts proteins, 10.77 parts fat, 3.34 parts cholesterin, 1.77 

 parts lecithin, and 9.34 parts salts. 



The pleural fluid occurs under physiological conditions in such small 

 quantities that a chemical analysis of it cannot be made. Under patho- 

 logical conditions this fluid may show very variable properties. In 

 certain 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 exudate is kept enclosed 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 nucleoal- 

 bumin or nucleoprotein (the pyrin of early writers) may be obtained on 



1 v. Gorup-Besanez, Lehrbuch d. physiol. Chem., 4. Aufl ., 401 ; Wachsmuth, Vir- 

 <5how's Arch., 7; Hoppe-Seyler, Physiol. Chem., 605. 



2 Halliburton, Text-book of Chem. Physiol., etc., London, 1891. 



3 Zeitschr. f . physiol. Chem., 12. 



