BLOOD. 251 



the surface of the clot are more or less cupped ; the serum is of 

 a pure lemon colour, not tinged red. When subjected to 

 whipping, the fibrin separates in thicker and more solid masses 

 than in ordinaiy blood. After the removal of the fibrin the 

 corpuscles quickly sink, and frequently occupy only one fourth 

 of the whole fluid, while, in healthy blood, they sink very im- 

 perfectly or not at all. The blood has always an alkaline re- 

 action, and is of a higher temperature than in the ordinary state. 



Laueri found the temperature of the blood in pneumonia as 

 high as 100°, and in bronchitis it reached 101°-6. These tem- 

 peratures are, however, not higher than are met with in healthy 

 blood. 



According to Becquerel the temperature may rise to 5°-4 in 

 inflammatory diseases and fevers. 



According to Coupil it amounts, in inflammatory disorders, 

 to 106° — lll°-7, and at the inflamed region to 112°-4. 



The microscope has not yet succeeded in detecting any con- 

 stant pecuHarities. 



The blood occurs in a state of hyperinosis in all inflamma- 

 tory disorders (Phlogoses). 



In proportion to the firmness of the clot, the conca\ity of its 

 surface, (the cupping,) and the toughness, and thickness of the 

 bufiy coat, is the degree of inflammation; and conversely the 

 thinner and more friable the clot is, the less intense is the dis- 

 order. We also find, accompanying these physical symptoms, 

 an excess of fibrin, and a diminution of hsematoglobulin, as 

 well as of the solid constituents of the blood generally, and in 

 proportion to the degree in which these phenomena are ob- 

 served, we may infer a greater or lesser amount of inflammatory 

 action. 



[Before proceeding to the consideration of indi^ddual dis- 

 eases, we may observe that Becquerel and Eodier have deduced 

 the following law from their numerous analyses of morbid 

 blood. "Tlie development of an inflammatory disorder pro- 

 duces remarkable modifications in the composition of the blood, 

 of which the most striking is the increase of fibrin."^ 



' Quaedam de sauguinis different, in Moib. p. 15. 



2 The authors merely regard this as a confirmation of the law established by Andral 

 and Gavarret, not as an original discovery. 



