CHEMICAL PHYSIOLOGY. 29 



tain a quantity of cerebric acid or of lecithine. This 

 has been variously called myeline (Virchow), protagon 

 (Liebreich), and other names, but it is probably the same 

 body as that which can be extracted from the brain. We 

 further have in blood corpuscles a certain quantity of st 

 what is called stroma. This is merely a name for a 

 substance which is supposed to give them a shape. 

 The stroma remains when the other bodies are 

 extracted. It is a kind of chemical skeleton, and 

 can be isolated (by freezing, for example) and investi- 

 gated (Rollet). It seems to be very different from 

 the albuminous matters combined in hematocrystalline, 

 for it is soluble in ether, alcohol, and chloroform, when 

 these agents are dissolved in serum. But it contains 

 a small quantity of fibrino -plastic substance (Alex. 

 Schmidt), namely paraglobuhne, sometimes also termed stroma con- 

 globuline. This remains insoluble when the blood- buline> 

 corpuscles, previously separated from serum by solu- 

 tions of salt, are deprived of hematocrystalline by 

 water. The gelatinous paraglobuline, after shaking 

 with water and ether, is soluble in solutions of salt, 

 dilute alkalies, and water containing one per mille of 

 hydrochloric acid. Brought in contact with fibrino- 

 genous solutions it frequently produces fibrine. 



The blood-corpuscles carry oxygen, which has great J]*faj<rf 

 affinity for hematocrystalline, from the lungs to the corpuscles * 

 most distant or hidden and internal parts of the body. 

 They there yield it up to the tissues, principally the 

 muscles or the oxydisable matters contained in their 

 juices, and the tissues, thus oxydised, return the car- 

 bonic acid, water, urea, and other products into the 



