Body Tissues and Fluids v ; 



VICTOR C. MYERS 



NEW YORK 



So much attention has recently been devoted to the study of the chem- 

 istry of the blood that a consideration of the subject of the body tissues 

 and fluids can hardly be made without undue emphasis on the blood. Some 

 of the more recent methods have been applied to advantage in the study 

 of spinal fluid and milk, and an extended application of many of these 

 methods to the study of fresh autopsy tissues f muscle, liver, etc., would 

 probably yield equally valuable results. 



Composition and Significance of Blood 



During the past decade, 1910-20, the chemical composition of the 

 blood has been a topic of increasing interest and importance, quite eclips- 

 ing in significance the studies carried out on the urine during the pre- 

 ceding decade. In the case of urine the advances were primarily the re- 

 sult of the impetus furnished by the new methods of Folin and of S. R. 

 Benedict, and these same workers, together with Van Slyke, are responsible 

 for many of our new methods of blood analysis. During this latter period 

 the blood has probably been the topic of more studies than any other body 

 tissue, fluid or secretion. The practical importance now attached to the 

 chemical examination of the blood would appear to be rapidly overshadow- 

 ing the importance formerly attached to the examination of the urine. 



Blood has often been referred to as a fluid tissue. That the blood 

 may readily be compared with other tissues from the standpoint of its 

 solid content is evident by the fact that in perfect health the total solids 

 are only slightly less than those of the muscle tissue and even more than 

 those of some of the glandular tissues of the body. According to recent 

 observations human blood normally constitutes about 8.5 per cent of the 

 body weight. Blood is the common carrier of nutritive materials to the 

 various tissues of the body and waste products such as carbon dioxid, urea, 

 etc., to organs of excretion. From this it is apparent that an inability 

 to properly metabolize certain food materials or properly excrete certain 

 waste products should result in changes in the composition of the blood. 

 Owing to the various factors of safety in the body it would seem unlikely 

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