BLOOD. 



411 



Since the publication of the preceding ana- 

 lysis, M. Boudet has discovered a new substance 

 in the serum of the blood, which he denomi- 

 nates seroline. This is a white slightly opa- 

 lescent substance, fusible at 36 cent., (about 

 94 Fahr.), not forming an emulsion with 

 water, soluble in alcohol, not saponifiable, 

 and appearing to contain azote. This chemist 

 has also shown that the oily matter mentioned 

 by M. Lecanu is a mixture of cholesterine and 

 an alkaline soap, similar to that which is met 

 witli in the bile ; lastly, he has determined the 

 identity of the fatty chrystallizable phosporated 

 matter contained in the blood with that dis- 

 covered by Vauquelin in the brain (cere- 

 brine).* 



The study of the colouring matter of the 

 blood has engrossed a large share of the atten- 

 tion of chemists ; nevertheless its nature is 

 still very imperfectly known. It is very com- 

 monly designated under the name of hemato- 

 zine or hematine, and can be readily shown to 

 have the greatest analogy to albumen, from 



* Ann. de Chimie, 2de Serie, t. Hi. 



which it is indeed always separated with great 

 difficulty. This matter is soluble in pure 

 water, insoluble in serum and in water impreg- 

 nated with salt or sugar, coagulable by heat, 

 capable of absorbing oxygen, carbonic acid, 

 and various other gases which modify its colour. 

 According to M. Lecanu the hematine of 

 chemists is a combination of albumen and the 

 pure colouring matter of the blood, which he 

 proposes to designate globuline.* But his 

 researches into this delicate subject do not 

 seem to us altogether satisfactory, and we have 

 reason to believe that his glubuline is neither 

 more nor less than some of the globules of the 

 blood which have escaped the action of the sub- 

 acetate of lead employed to precipitate the un- 

 combined albumen. However this may be, 

 the colouring matter of the blood after incine- 

 ration leaves a large quantity of ashes, in 

 which a considerable proportion of oxide of iron 

 can be demonstrated, to the presence of which 

 several chemists have ascribed the red colour 

 of the blood ; such an opinion, however, does 

 not seem tenable at the present day. 



The experiments of Berzelius have shown 

 that the serum of the blood of the ox does not 

 differ essentially from that of the blood of man.f 

 But we are still without comparative analyses 

 of the nutrient fluids of the different classes of 

 animals. This desideratum has been partially 

 supplied in regard to the vertebrata by Messrs. 

 Prevost and Dumas, they having carefully 

 determined the proportions of water, and of 

 albumen contained in the serum, and those of 

 the fibrine, and other solid parts which swim 

 suspended in this fluid. From these expe- 

 riments we learn that the composition of the 

 serum varies in the same animal at different 

 times, and that it differs still more widely in 

 different animals, without its being possible to 

 connect such changes with the physiological 

 state of the individual. The case is otherwise, 

 however, as concerns the globules ; in the 

 majority of cases there exists a remarkable 

 relation between the quantity of these cor- 

 puscles and the degree of heat developed by 

 the vital actions. Of this we may be easily 

 convinced by inspecting the following table, in 

 which Messrs. Prevost and Dumas have pre- 

 sented us with the comparative weights of the 

 solid particles (globules and fibrine) contained 

 in 1000 parts of blood, with the habitual 

 temperature of different animals, taken in the 

 rectum, the number of pulsations of the heart 

 per minute, and the number of inspirations 

 made in the same interval of time. 



* Ann. de Chimie, 2de Serie, t. xlv. 

 t On animal fluids, in Med. Chirurg. Trans* 

 vol. iii. 



