BLOOD. 329 



III. BILE-PIGMENT IN THE BLOOD : CHOL^MIA. 



Yery contradictoiy statements exist regarding the composi- 

 tion of the blood in icterus. 



Orfila^ foimd bile, or at least, biliary resin, in the blood of 

 three persons suffering from icterus ; and Collard de Martigny'^ 

 and Clarion^ obtained similar results. Lassaigne* and Thenard, 

 on the contraiy, declare that they could never detect any con- 

 stituent of the bile in such cases. Chevreul found, in the blood 

 of children with icterus, the colouring matter of the bile, but 

 not picromel ; and Boudet and Lecanu have likewise found the 

 bile-pigment present in these cases. 



I was fortunate enough to obtain a specimen of the blood 

 of a woman in our hospital who was jaundiced to a degree not 

 often witnessed. The skin over the whole body was of a yel- 

 lowish brown colour, the urine was of a deep, dark brown tint, 

 and deposited a considerable quantity of brown and yellow sedi- 

 ment. The blood was drawn from the arm in my presence, and 

 was immediately whipt. It hardly differed in appearance from 

 normal blood, but contained very little fibrin, and the corpus- 

 cles speedily sunk. The serum was of an almost blood-red 

 colour, but, when only a thin stratum was viewed, it appeared 

 of a bright amber tint. Its taste was hardly at aU bitter ; 

 when treated with nitric acid, a whitish yellow coagulum was 

 first formed, (consisting of albumen,) which rapidly assumed a 

 deep grass-green colour, then, after a short interval, changed 

 into a blue, and afterwards into a pale red ; and from that to a 

 yellow. 



I precipitated the protein-compounds, by means of alcohol, 

 from a large quantity of serum, evaporated the fluid, again 

 treated the residue with alcohol, evaporated, and then dissolved 

 the residue in water. This aqueous solution must have con- 

 tained bilin or bilifellinic acid (if they had been present), besides 

 the alcohol-extract of the blood and certain salts, but it neither 

 tasted bitter, nor, when digested with sulphuric acid, did it yield 

 a resinous substance (a compound of fellinic and cholinic acids 



1 Elements de Chira., vol. 2, p. 313. 

 = Joiu-ii de Cliim. Med., vol. 3, p. 423. 

 ' Theses d'Ecole de Medecine, 1811. 

 ■• Journ. de Cliim. Med., vol. 1, p. 266. 

 ' Tiaitc de Chim., vol. 5, p. 111. 



