314 COLLOIDS IN BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE 



ume per cent from 30 to 36 CO 2 only 12.4 and 9.8, and 0. MINKOWSKI 

 once found only 3.3 per cent. [Mention should be made of the work 

 of JOSLIN, VAN SLYKE, HARRIOT and ROWLAND in America. Tr.] 



On these grounds we must realize that in all respiratory dis- 

 turbances not only the accumulation of C0 2 in the blood, but also 

 that the incomplete oxidation in the tissue resulting from insufficient 

 O, leads to circulatory disturbances. 



The following line of proof seems especially interesting to me. 

 We know that in obesity, the oxidizing forces in the tissues are re- 

 duced, so that the fat is no longer attacked, and, as a matter of 

 fact, it is in the obese especially that circulatory disturbances regu- 

 larly appear. 



Clinicians know that the circulatory disturbances from diminished 

 alkalescence in such cases are benefited by giving large doses of 

 alkalis. 



I am fully convinced that the facts heretofore mentioned may 

 be explained by the increased viscosity of the blood due to the 

 swelling of the blood corpuscles, and also that we have no experi- 

 mental evidence to separate the two phenomena. My sole object 

 is to introduce into the organic development of existing ideas a 

 new viewpoint based on colloid-chemical facts. At the interface, 

 tissue /blood, increased H ion concentration may develop, and as a result 

 of the ionization of the albumin, a greater friction may be produced. 

 The increase in the concentration of H ions may be produced by 

 diminution in the alkalinity of the blood or through a disturbance of the 

 oxidizing processes in the tissues, so that many circulatory disturb- 

 ances may be viewed as errors of metabolism. The possibility of an 

 increased friction as the result of a change in the difference in potential 

 between blood and tissue has thus been indicated. 



The mere disturbance in the oxidation processes in the tissues also 

 causes them to swell, resulting in an abstraction of water from the 

 blood and a consequent increase in its viscosity. We must thus 

 recognize a relationship between the viscosity of the blood and the 

 questions considered in the chapter on Edema (see p. 223 et seq.). 



The influence of the blood cells on the internal friction of the blood. 

 As was shown by A. GURBER, the red blood corpuscles swell when 

 carbonic acid is introduced. H. J. HAMBURGER and VON LIMBECK 

 have confirmed and thoroughly analyzed this observation in the case 

 of carbonic acid and other acids. The increase in the volume of the 

 red blood corpuscles, which is 15 per cent more in venous than in 

 arterial blood, in pathological conditions, e.g., in asphyxiation, may 

 rise to 30 per cent. 



The most exhaustive investigations in this direction were under- 



