F11JKINE. 45 



C 2 ie N 2 i7 S 3 H 169 Oes, besides phosphates. The albumen of 

 the blood's serum contains 1 eq. less sulphur. In vegetables 

 albumen is sometimes fluid, but in most seeds it is solid. 

 In animals it is always fluid, soluble in water, and coagulable 

 at a temperature of 140 or 160. The more diluted albu- 

 men is, the greater is the heat required to harden it ; and 

 when coagulated, it is insoluble in water. Mineral salts 

 coagulate albumen, and this is particularly the case with 

 corrosive sublimate, of which a very small quantity is required 

 to induce the necessary change. It is the ready change 

 which occurs by the approach between albumen and many 

 of the poisonous mineral salts, which renders the former a 

 valuable antidote in cases of poisoning. Creosote, acids, fer- 

 rocyanide of potassium, and an infusion of galls, are all 

 capable of coagulating albumen ; and the gastric juice effects 

 this, in order that the solidified principle may be digested. 



II. FIBRINE exists in small proportion in the blood of 

 animals, and is the basis of their muscular system. It is 

 spontaneously coagulable whenever it is removed from the 

 body and exposed to the air. I must defer the consideration 

 of the causes of coagulation and the nature of the pheno- 

 menon for some future time ; but I may mention, that within 

 the vessels and in contact with living tissue it does not 

 readily coagulate ; and when this change has occurred, it 

 ceases to be soluble in water or serum. In coagulating, it 

 acquires a peculiar fibrous appearance, and is very bulky, 

 from the quantity of water it contains. If acted on by acetic 

 acid, it swells into a jelly-like, translucent, and tremulous 

 mass, and is then soluble in boiling water. " Coagulated 

 fibrine, whether vegetable or animal, when covered with 

 water, and left to itself, undergoes a change ; a small part of 

 it putrifies, and the rest is dissolved. The liquid, freed from 

 fat by filtration, now contains albumen, coagulable by heat 



