PHYSIOLOGY. 



the source of the fibrin which appears in the 

 process of coagulation. According to Bizzo- 

 jro's account, it is a colorless disk or lens- 

 laped body, with a diameter equal to from 

 le quarter to one half that of a red corpuscle, 

 id is perfectly destitute of haemoglobin. Ha- 

 rem and Laker state that it is biconcave, Biz- 

 )zero that it is not ; while Laker and Bizzo- 

 3ro agree that it can not be considered an in- 

 ;rmediate stage in the development of red 

 srpuscles. The disks have also been examined 

 )y Norris, who claims to have described them 

 inder the name of "invisible corpuscles" as 

 back as 1878. Bizzozero believes that the 

 ibrin is derived from the disintegration of these 

 lisks, and adduces several facts in support of 

 lis view, among which are 1. Liquids which 

 ive a tendency to prevent coagulation pre- 

 also more or leas completely these blood- 

 >lates from destruction. 2. Experiments made 

 ipon blood kept within the uninjured blood- 

 vessels showed that as long as the blood re- 

 lained uncoagulated, the blood-plates kept 

 leir shape, while the rapid coagulation of 

 shed blood was always preceded by a destruc- 

 tion of the plates and the formation of granular 

 lasses from them. 3. When a drop of the 

 jlood was whipped with slender threads for 

 >ut fifty or fifty-five seconds, and the threads 

 ere withdrawn and slightly washed with 0'75 

 3r cent, of sodium chloride containing methyl 

 dolet, and then examined under the micro- 

 scope in the same liquid, they were found cov- 

 ered with a layer of "plates," together with 

 >me white corpuscles. If the whipping was 

 Dntinued longer, the layer of plates became a 

 granular mass or was transformed into a film 

 fibrin. The experimenter was able to a cer- 

 dn extent to watch this process, the deposi- 

 tion of the plates, their fusion into a granular 

 mass, and the subsequent formation of fibrin, 

 by observing under the microscope a. thread 

 placed in a slow current of blood. 4. When 

 to a liquid containing fibrinogen and fibrino- 

 )lastin only, some of the colorless blood-plates 

 adhering to a thread were added, coagulation 

 followed. The mere presence of a foreign 

 body, as a thread, was shown to have no effect. 

 It was shown by satisfactory tests that the co- 

 agulation was not owing to the few red cor- 

 puscles which it was impossible to wash off the 

 thread, nor to leucocytes adheringto the thread. 

 The conclusion is drawn that the colorless 

 plates must be assigned the chief part in coagu- 

 lation. A pale nucleated plate, differing from 

 the white corpuscles, and similar in functions 

 to the colorless plate here described, has also 

 been found in birds and amphibia. 



L. 0. Woolridge, D. Sc., of the Leipsic Lab- 

 oratory, describes a series of experiments on 

 dog's blood which tend to establish the fact 

 that lecithin, a body omnipresent in proto- 

 plasm, can bring about coagulation. 



Feuerstack, in a memoir on the development 

 of the red blood-corpuscles, after reviewing the 

 various theories on the subject, announces as 



his conclusion : " We find in the circulation of 

 animals with nucleated blood-corpuscles every 

 possible transition between colorless and col- 

 ored blood-corpuscles. That there are transi- 

 tion stages from the white to the colored cells 

 is shown by the course of development during 

 artificially induced blood - formation." Mr. 

 Charles S. Minot suggests, in " Science," that 

 the author has overlooked the more plausible 

 view that the colored corpuscles are merely 

 nuclei and not completed cells. 



Dr. Richard Norris, of Birmingham, Eng- 

 land, claims to have discovered that the white 

 corpuscles of the lymph peel off the body of 

 the cell, setting the nucleus free; that the lat- 

 ter then enters the circulation as a colorless 

 disk which is ordinarily invisible, and gradual- 

 ly becomes colored by the endogenous secre- 

 tion of hemoglobin. He uses his alleged dis- 

 covery to contradict some of the established 

 views concerning the physiology and pathology 

 of the blood. Mr. Ernest Hart has contro- 

 verted his views, and, repeating his experi- 

 ments, has shown that the methods employed 

 create the colorless disk out of the red cor- 

 puscle by removing, in one manner or another, 

 the hemoglobin. 



Regarding the influence of the inorganic con- 

 stituents of the blood on the ventricular con- 

 traction, Prof. Sydney Ringer had shown from 

 previous investigations that the contractility 

 of the ventricle can not be supported without 

 the presence of a lime salt in the circulating 

 fluid; that lime salts greatly delay diastolic 

 dilatation ; and that this effect is obviated by 

 a potash salt. He had further shown that a 

 solution containing sodium chloride and a lime 

 salt only will not sustain contractility so long 

 as a mixture containing a potash salt in addi- 

 tion ; and that sodium bicarbonate added to sa- 

 line solution will not sustain contractility, nor 

 will saline solution with sodium bicarbonate 

 and potassium chloride. _ Yet sodium bicar- 

 bonate, or rather an alkaline state of the fluid, 

 does favor contractility. In one of the experi- 

 ments spontaneous contractions restored by 

 sodium bicarbonate became even stronger than 

 with the blood used at the beginning of the 

 experiment. Continuing the discussion of his 

 experiments, and seeking for the reason of this 

 improvement, he observes that it can scarcely 

 be maintained that an alkaline fluid is neces- 

 sary, since in another experiment fairly good 

 though weakened contractions persisted after 

 feeding the ventricle with a neutral solution 

 for ninety minutes and more. More probably, 

 the acid developed in the muscles under con- 

 traction gradually weakens, and at last sus- 

 pends contractility. It is certain that the so- 

 dium bicarbonate'acts by virtue of its alkalin- 

 ity, and not as a sodium salt f for the addition 

 to the circulating fluid of calcium hydrate or 

 ammonium carbonate will produce the same 

 restoration of. the beats. The amount of con- 

 traction, the duration of the contraction, the 

 breadth of the trace, and the rapidity of dias- 



