CHYLE CEREBRO-SPINAL FLUID. 183 



and does not clot spontaneously, but only on addition of fibrin ferment, 

 such as is contained in serum. Traces of urea are present but no sugar, 

 although a slight reduction of Fehling's solution is sometimes obtainable. 

 This is probably due to paralactic acid. 1 



The following analysis of aqueous humour is by Lohmeyer : 2 



In 1000 parts 



Water .... 986 -87 



Proteids . . . . 1*22 



Extractives . . . . 4 '21 



NaCl . . . . 6-89 



Other salts . . . . 0'81 



Pericardial fluid is a form of lymph which is found in small 

 quantity within the sac of the pericardium. Peritoneal and pleural 

 fluids, and the fluid of the tunica vaginalis, are not normally present in 

 sufficient quantity to be collected and analysed. Pericardial fluid 

 contains rather less proteid than ordinary lymph (2'28-2'55 per cent.). 3 



Pericardial fluid, as obtained from the horse or ox, is a yellowish 

 fluid, resembling serum in appearance and in its general composition, 

 but it contains fibrinogen. 4 It usually has no leucocytes, nor is it 

 spontaneously coagulable, but it coagulates on the addition of ferment or 

 of nucleo -proteid. 



Chyle has nearly the same composition as lymph, but it contains 

 more solid matter, the increase being chiefly in fats, but also in proteids. 

 The following table from Hoppe-Seyler gives its general composition in 

 the dog and a comparison with the serum of the same animal. 



Chyle of Serum of 



Dog. same Dog. 



Water .... 90*67 93'60 

 Fibrin .... O'll 



Albumin and globulin . . 2-10 4 -5 2 



Fat, lecithin, cholesterin . 6'48 0'68 



Other organic substances . 0'23 0'29 



Salts .... 0-79 0-87 



The ether extract of chyle was found by Hoppe-Seyler to contain, 

 per cent. : 



Cholesterin . . . 14 "09 



Lecithin . . . . 8 '8 4 



Fats ..... 77-07 



There is also, according to Hoppe-Seyler, a small amount of soap in 

 chyle. The amount of urea and of sugar is about the same as in lymph. 



The cerebro-spinal fluid, although resembling lymph in its appear- 

 ance, and probably in being formed by transudation from the blood 

 vessels, differs from lymph chemically in certain important details. 

 Although cerebro-spinal fluid is not obtainable normally in sufficient 

 amount for analysis, the fluid of a meningocele appears to be nothing 

 but an accumulation of the normal fluid, and has been frequently 

 analysed, and the fluid of hydrocephalus has also been used for this 

 purpose. Cerebro-spinal fluid as thus obtained is a clear, colourless 



1 Kuhn, Arch.f. d. ges. PhysioL, Bonn, 1888, Bd. xi. S. 200 ; Griinhagen, ibid., S. 377. 



2 Gorup-Besanez, "Lehrbuch," 1878, S. 401. 



3 Hoppe-Seyler, " Physiol. Chem.," 3881, S. 605. 



4 For analyses of pericardial fluid from the horse, and also for the analysis of various 

 dropsical fluids which tend to accumulate in the serous cavities of man, see Halliburton, 

 "Chem. PhysioL," pp. 338 and 339, and Brit. Med. Journ., London, 1S90. 



