306 CIRCULATING FLUIDS : 



not a permanent one ; it lasts only for a brief period, till the 

 blood either begins to exhibit more vital activity, and to return 

 towards its normal condition ; or, if its \dtality be still more 

 depressed, till it assumes the character of spansemia. The pre- 

 ponderance of the corpuscles is not absolute {as in plethora^), 

 but merely relative, and is due, partly to their hindered con- 

 sumption, and partly (as is seen in abdominal typhus) to an 

 absolute diminution of the water and the albumen. If the 

 fever assume a malignant torpid character, the hypinosis spec-' 

 dily merges into spansemia. 



THIRD FORM OF DISEASED BLOOD : SPANjEMIA.2 



The chemical and physical relations of the blood in those 

 states in which it is deficient in solid constituents, and especially 

 in fibrin and blood-corpuscles, are not yet accurately known. 



We have less frequent opportunities of examining this con- 

 dition of the blood, for some of the diseases in which it occurs 

 are of rare occurrence, and in the other more common forms, 

 the prudent physician avoids as much as possible increasing by 

 venesection the general want of blood in the system. 



Chemical characters of the blood. 



The amount of fibrin and of corpuscles is diminished : the 

 amount of residue of serum is either normal or diminished : the 

 proportion of water is higher than in healthy blood : the amount 

 of salts in the serum is sometimes normal, sometimes diminished. 



Physical characters of the blood. 



The blood is verv fluid : it is sometimes of a dark or even 

 violet, and sometimes of a bright colour; it usually coagulates 

 imperfectly, sometimes not at all. The clot is small, soft, diffluent, 

 and neither covered with a true nor false bufiy coat. The serum 

 is generally of a bright yellow colour, but sometimes of a dark 

 yellow or even red tint. The specific gravity of the blood is 

 considerably diminished. 



' [Becquerel and Rodier have recently shown that this opinion is erroneous, and 

 that, in plethora, the amount of the blood is increased, while its composition is un- 

 affected.] 



* From «//xa, blood, and airm'OQ, or aivdvioQ, poor; spansemia, poverty of the 

 blood. We prefer this term to ansmia, because the latter is used to represent a 

 morbid condition of the blood subordinate to span?emia. 



