BLOOD CORPUSCLES. 59 



corpuscles, and want of it diminishes their number as may 

 be recognized in the pallid aspect of a person who has lost 

 several nights' rest. Fresh air and plenty of it has the 

 same effect. 



The proportion of these corpuscles has a great import- 

 ance since, as we shall subsequently see, they serve to carry 

 oxygen, which is necessary for the performance of its func- 

 tions, all over the Body. Anosmia is a diseased condition 

 characterized by pallor due to deficiency of red blood cor- 

 puscles, and accompanied by languor and listlessness. It is 

 not unfrequent in young girls on the verge of womanhood, 

 and in persons overworked and confined within doors. In 

 such cases the best remedies are open-air exercise and good 

 food. 



Summary. Practically the composition of the blood 

 may be thus stated: It consists of (1) plasma, consisting 

 mainly of water containing in solution serum albumin, 

 fibrinogen, sodium, and other salts, and extractives of 

 which the most constant are urea, kreatin, and grape 

 sugar; (2) red corpuscles, containing rather more than hnlf 

 their weight of water, the remainder being mainly haemo- 

 globin, other proteids, and potash salts; (3) white corpus- 1 ; 

 cles, consisting of water, various proteids, glycogen, and; 

 potash salts; (4) the plaques', (5) gases, partly dissolved in 

 the plasma or combined with its sodium salts, and (oxygen) 

 partly combined with the haemoglobin of the red corpuscles. 



Quantity of Blood. The total amount of blood in the 

 Body is difficult of accurate determination. It is about 

 -jig- of the whole weight of the Body, so the quantity in 

 a man weighing 75 kilos (165 Ibs.) is about 5.8 kilos 

 (12.7 Ibs.). Of this at any given moment about one 

 fourth would be found in the heart and big blood-vessels; 

 and equal quantities in the capillaries of the liver, and in 

 those of the muscles which move the skeleton; while the 

 remaining fourth is distributed among the remaining parts 

 of the Body. 



The Origin and Fate of the Blood Corpuscles. The 

 white blood corpuscles vary so rapidly and frequently in 

 number in the blood that they must be constantly in pro- 



