BLOOD. 317 



sured, both by the patient and the nurse, that tliere had been 

 no vomiting when the blood was discharged, appeared to me of 

 importance, since it is well known that a very small quantity 

 of bile is sufficient to dissolve a considerable quantity of blood- 

 corpuscles. 



[Some observations on the sanguineous contents of the sto- 

 mach, and on the blood found in the heart after death from 

 this disease, occur in Heller's Archiv, vol. i, p. 10.] 



Hemorrhages. 



I have already observed that continuous and excessive loss 

 of blood must necessarily produce a change in the composition 

 of that portion which remains in the system, and that there will 

 be a more or less marked degree of spansemia in proportion to 

 the quantity of blood that has been lost. 



Some researches have already been made regarding the 

 chemico-physical condition of the blood which is separated from 

 various organs in the different forms of hemorrhage. 



I analysed the blood of a woman who was suffering from 

 meloena. It was a thick fluid, of a dark red colour (nearly 

 black), and gave off only a slight fsecal odour : dilute acid 

 heightened the colour, and caustic potash developed an odour 

 of ammonia : it had a strong alkaline reaction, coagulated only 

 imperfectly on heating, and threw out an unpleasant smell, not 

 however resembling the odour of fteces. It did not coagulate 

 upon standing, and contained no fibrin. No blood-corpuscles 

 could be observed under the microscope, but merely some yellow 

 particles floating in a clear fluid. It was very rich in fat and 

 in hsemaphffiin. The fat resembled in odour the fat of putrid 

 blood. The alcohol-extract, which contained a considerable 

 quantity of fat, had a very bitter taste, but when treated with 

 sulphuric acid no bilifellinic acid was separated ; consequently 

 the presence of bile was undecided. Upon heating tlie dried 

 residue a considerable quantity of ammonia was given off. 



