BLOOD. 303 



The residue of tlie serum contained^ on an aA^erage, 7*92 of 

 inorganic constituents^ wliicli sliows that the quantity of salts is 

 not diminished. 



The blood in the first case was taken from a woman aged 

 60 yearSj whose feet had been oedematous for six months, in 

 consequence of hypertrophy of the heart. 



The second case was that of a woman aged 59 years, who, 

 two days before the bleeding, had a severe apoplectic fit : the 

 blood exhibited decided symptoms of hypinosis, the fibrin being 

 diminished, and the corpuscles and (to a very considerable de- 

 gree) the solid constituents being increased. The bleeding was 

 repeated three days afterwards, when consciousness had re- 

 turned, and at this period the corpuscles were found to have 

 diminished in a very striking degree, being about 25" less than 

 on the former occasion : the fibrin in the meantime increased 

 in a still more rapid proportion. 



Andral and Gavarret observe, in regard to this case, that 

 the slight cerebral hemorrhage is not sufficient to account sa- 

 tisfactorily for the change in the composition of the blood that 

 was observed on the second occasion ; moreover, since the loss 

 of blood is not always necessarily followed by a diminution of 

 fibrin, it may be asked whether the changed composition of the 

 blood, instead of being a consequence, may not have been a 

 cause of the disease, since blood deficient in its proper quantity 

 of fibrin has always a tendency to escape from the vessels.^ 



The change in the composition of the blood is proportional 



* la opposition to this view it may be stated that blood coutaining uninjured cor- 

 puscles cannot be effused unless there are orifices in the parietes of the vessels, and 

 it is questionable whether blood abounding in fibrin can escape through such pores 

 at all, while Ijlood deficient in that constituent can pass through with facility. The 

 only constituent that can permeate the walls of uninjured vessels is hsmatoglobulin 

 thssolved in liquor sanguinis ; and this solution is not produced by a diminution in 



