110 CIRCULATING FLUIDS : 



coagulated by this reagent cloud the field of vision, and render 

 the corpuscles indistinct. I have also found that neither abso- 

 lute alcohol, nor alcohol of '835, effect the solution of the cor- 

 puscles. 



It has been found by Schultz, Hiinefeld, and myself, that 

 the blood-corpuscles dissolve upon the addition of a small quan- 

 tity of ether. A quantity corresponding in volume to from 

 one third to one half of the blood is perfectly sufficient. This 

 experiment has been successfully repeated upon the blood of 

 man, the ox, the frog, and the carp. 



If the experiment be performed in a test-glass, it wiU be 

 obsen'ed that the colour of the blood very soon becomes deep- 

 ened, but that idtimately the whole fluid becomes transparent. 

 The ether does not separate dm'ing this process. 



If a portion of this mixtm-e be covered vrith a slip of thin 

 glass, and examined under the microscope, no corpuscles, but 

 simply the nuclei, are discernible. The nuclei in the blood of 

 man and the ox cannot be clearly seen on account of the colour- 

 ing matter that is always present ; they may, hoAvever, be always 

 distinctly observed in the blood of the frog or the carp for a 

 considerable time. 



A mixture of ether and blood, kept in a stoppered vessel for 

 some time, became thick, assumed a greasy appearance, and 

 was no longer fit for the experiment ; neither could a satis- 

 factory result be obtained on shaking blood with an excess of 

 ether ; for then the ether took up the water of the blood, and 

 thus reduced that fluid to a state of thickness. 



On poinding off the ether from a known quantity of blood 

 with which it had been continuously stirred for twenty-four 

 houi'S, and submitting the blood to a single washing with ether, 

 I was astonished to find that from the two ethereal solutions 

 I obtained quite as large a quantity of fat as I should have done 

 by the repeated extraction of a corresponding portion of dried 

 and finely-powdered blood with boiling ether. On treating 

 pure liquid serum of the same blood in a similar manner, the 

 quantity of fat obtained did not differ from the quantity 

 obtained from the perfect blood, in a ratio sufficient to justify 

 the supposition, that the capsules are composed of fat. 



I can also confirm Hiinefeld's observation respecting the 

 influence of bile upon the blood. On the addition of fresh bile, 



