298 ABSORPTION AND SANGUIFICATION. 



discs ; and the former coagulates, whilst the blood-discs are retained 

 upon the filter. This experiment convincingly proves, that the act of 

 coagulation is not due to the red corpuscles, as was at one time ima- 

 gined. The ordinary act of coagulation, by withdrawing the Fibrine 

 and Corpuscles, makes it easy to estimate the proportion of Albumen 

 and of Saline matter in the Blood, when due allowance is made for 

 the quantity of Serum retained in the Clot ; and the relative propor- 

 tions of these may be determined, by evaporating the fluid, so as to 

 obtain the whole amount of solid matter it contains, and by then cal- 

 cining the residuum, so as to ascertain how much of this is a mineral 

 ash, the remainder being chiefly Albumen. The solid matter of the 

 blood also contains various Fatty substances, which may be removed 

 from it by ether. Some of these appear to correspond with the con- 

 stituents of ordinary Fat ( 261) ; whilst another contains phosphorus, 

 and seems allied to the peculiar fatty acids of Neurine ( 383) ; and 

 another has some of the properties of Cholesterine, the fatty matter of 

 the Bile ( 724). Besides these, there are certain substances known 

 under the name of Extractive; one group of which is soluble in water, 

 and another in Alcohol. Of the precise nature of these, little is-known. 

 They have been aptly termed "ill-defined" animal principles ; and it is 

 probable that they may include various substances in a state of change 

 or disintegration, which are being eliminated from the Blood by the 

 processes of^Excretion. 



527. The general result of numerous recent analyses of the Blood 

 may be thus stated. The whole amount of solid matter is rather 

 greater in the Male than in the Female ; being, on the average, about 

 210 parts in 1000 in the former, and 200 in the latter. This diffe- 

 rence, however, chiefly depends on the larger proportion of red corpus- 

 cles contained in the blood of the male. The proportion of Albumen 

 seems more constant than that of the other constituents of Blood; 

 seldom varying beyond 5 or 6 parts, in either sex, above or below 70 in 

 1000. The quantity of Corpuscles appears liable to considerably 

 greater variation ; the superiority on the side of the Male, however, 

 being very strongly marked in the maximum and minimum, as well as 

 in the average. We may regard its average in the Male as about 132 in 

 1000 parts of blood; but it may fall to 110-5 parts, without the health 

 being seriously affected ; whilst, on the other hand, it may arise to 186 

 without any manifestation of disease. In the Female, its average may 

 be about 120 parts in 1000 ; but it may fall to as little as 71'4, and may 

 rise to 167, consistently with ordinary health. The range of variation 

 is thus much greater in the Female than in the Male ; the minimum 

 being considerably less, in the former, than half the maximum : whilst 

 in the latter it is much more. This is probably due in part to the fact, 

 that the loss by the Catamenial discharge may produce a great tempo- 

 rary depression in the proportion of the Corpuscles. The average 

 proportion of Fibrine seems to be no more than 2-5 in the Male ; and 

 though it may rise to as much as 3-5 or even 4, without disordering the 

 system, it does not seem to fall below 2, in the state of ordinary health. 

 The average in the Female is probably about 2-3 ; the proportion may 

 rise to 3, or fall to 1/8 ; but the variation seems less considerable in the 



