270 CIRCULATING FLUIDS: 



on the evening of the third day : the countenance was much 

 flushed, there was delirium, the pulse was 140, and hard. It 

 was at this period that the blood referred to in analysis 23 was 

 taken. 



On the fourth day the abdomen was tympanitic : the head- 

 symptoms were comparatively gone : the countenance was pale, 

 pulse 140, soft and small. The composition of the blood now 

 taken is given in analysis 24. The patient died. Dissection 

 showed that the thoracic organs were healthy, but that there 

 was exudation in the abdomen, with flocculent and purulent 

 matter : the same was found in the uterus and intestines. The 

 vessels on the peritoneal surface were fully injected ; and on 

 cutting into the uterus, milky pus was observed to exude in 

 pearly drops from the distended lymphatic vessels. 



In relation to the chemical constitution of the blood taken 

 at the second venesection, we may observe (vide supra, p. 261) 

 that there is a diminution not only of the quantity of the solid 

 constituents, but also of the hsematoglobulin or blood-corpus- 

 cles. The fibrin, however, instead of being increased, is dimi- 

 nished by "01, which may probably be accounted for by the cir- 

 cumstance of the pulse not having increased in frequency, and 

 having even become less hard. 



Andral and Gavarret' have made eight analyses of the blood 

 of four persons suffering from peritonitis : one was a case of 

 simple peritonitis ; the others were instances of metroperitonitis. 

 Two of the cases terminated fatally, and in these a large quan- 

 tity of pus was found in the abdominal cavity. 



Their analyses gave the following results : 



I 



' Annal. de Chimie et de Physique, vol. 75, p. 261. 



' They do not, of course, refer to an absolute decrease below the healthy standard, 

 but merely below the ordinary standard of the blood in inflammatory disorders. 



