CONCLUSIONS REGARDING COAGULATION. 181 



5. That the nucleo-proteid (prothrombin) appears in the plasma of 

 circulating blood under certain conditions, being in all probability shed 

 out from the white corpuscles and blood platelets, or in some cases even 

 from the red corpuscles ; and that when shed out under these conditions 

 from the corpuscles, or when artificially injected into the vessels, it 

 tends at once to interact with the lime salts of the plasma and to 

 form fibrin ferment (thrombin), intravascular coagulation being the 

 result. 



6. That, under other conditions, either the shedding out of nucleo- 

 proteid from the corpuscles, or its interaction with the lime salts of the 

 plasma, may be altogether prevented and the blood rendered incoagulable, 

 unless nucleo-proteid be artificially added, or unless a modification of 

 the conditions is introduced which will permit of the interaction of 

 the nucleo-proteid with lime to form ferment. 



7. That the nucleo-proteid (prothrombin) is incompetent, in the 

 entire absence of lime salts, to promote the transformation of 

 fibrinogen into fibrin; but, as a result of its interaction with lime 

 salts, it becomes transformed into a ferment (thrombin), which, 

 under suitable conditions of temperature and the like, produces 

 fibrin. 



8. That either the place of nucleo-proteid in coagulation may 

 be taken by certain albumoses, such as those found in snake venom, 

 and by certain artificial colloidal substances, such as those prepared 

 by Grimaux, or that such substances may act by setting free nucleo- 

 proteid from the leucocytes and other elements in the blood, or 

 from the cells of the blood vessels, and thus indirectly promote 

 coagulation. 



If the former supposition is the correct one, in all probability these three 

 substances (nucleo-proteid, snake venom, albumose, and colloid of Grimaux) 

 contain the same active molecular group. 1 



LYMPH, CHYLE, SEROUS FLUIDS, CEREBRO-SPINAL FLUID, SYNOVIA. 



Lymph, which is obtainable from the lymphatic vessels of the limbs, 

 from the thoracic duct, and from the lacteals in the intervals of absorp- 

 tion of digestive products, or from the serous cavities although only 

 occurring normally in sufficient amount for purposes of analysis and 

 experiment in the pericardial cavity resembles generally in the char- 

 acter of its constituents, but not in their relative amount, the plasma of 

 the blood. Nor are the proportions of its constituents so constant as are 

 those of blood plasma, for there is reason to believe that the lymph from 

 different organs presents very considerable differences in their relative 

 amounts. 



Lymph has generally been obtained for analysis from accidental 

 lymphatic fistulas in man, from experimental fistulae in large animals, 

 such as the horse, or from the thoracic duct of fasting animals (dog). 

 The amount flowing along the thoracic duct is about 64 c.c. per kilog. 

 body weight per diem. 2 



1 Halliburton and Pickering, op. cit. 



2 R. Heidenhain, Arch. f. d. ges. PhysioL, Bonn, 1891, Bd. xlix. S. 216 ; Noel Paton, 

 Journ. PhysioL, Cambridge and London, 1890, vol. xl. p. 109. 



