BLOOD. Ill 



Blood is an opaque, red fluid, having an alkaline reaction, a saline taste, 

 and a specific gravity of 1055. 



The opacity is due to the refraction of the rays of light by the elements of 

 which the blood is composed. The color varies in hue, from a scarlet red 

 in the arteries to a bluish red in the veins, due to the presence of a coloring - 

 matter hemoglobin in different degrees of oxidation. 



The alkalinity is constant, and depends upon the presence of the alkaline 

 sodium phosphate, Na.jHPO 4 . 



The saline taste is due to the amount of sodium chlorid present. 



The specific gravity, within the limits of health, ranges from 1.045 * 1.075, 

 though the average is about 1.056. 



The odor of the blood is characteristic, and varies with the animal from 

 which is it drawn; it is due to the presence of caproic acid. 



The temperature of the blood ranges from 98 F. at the surface to 107 F. 

 in the hepatic vein; it loses heat by radiation and evaporation as it approaches 

 the extremities and as it passes through the lungs. 



Blood Consists of Two Portions : 



1. The liquor sanguinis or plasma, a transparent, colorless fluid, in which 

 are floating 



2. Red and white corpuscles, these constituting by weight less than one half 

 (40 per cent.) of the entire amount of blood. 



COMPOSITION OF PLASMA. 



Water 902 .00 



Albumin 53 -o 



Paraglobulin 



Fibrinogen 



Fatty matters 



Crystallizable nitrogenous matters 



Other organic matter 



Mineral salts 



1,000.00 



Water acts as a solvent for the inorganic matters and holds in suspension 

 the corpuscular elements. 



Albumin is the nutritive principle of the blood; it is absorbed by the tissues 

 to repair their waste and is transformed into the organic basis characteristic 

 of each structure. 



