46 IMMEDIATE PKINCIPLES OF THE TISSUES. 



the water is in a solid state, and entirely different from any condition 

 in which it is found in the mineral kingdom. Hence muscle has 

 more consistence than blood, and the cortical substance of the brain 

 more than synovia; though these two fluids have less water than 

 the solids compared with them. This water is, therefore, in chemical 

 combination in the tissues, and not interposed between their elements. 



In the fluids the water is, of course, in a fluid state, and here 

 holds solids in solution. In a single instance only the halitus from 

 the lungs is the water in a gaseous state. 



Mere solution is chemical combination, but the feeblest known. 

 Water combining with a solid in less amount than sufficient to dis- 

 solve, is fixed in it, itself becoming solid ; in increased quantity, it 

 dissolves the other substance, that, on the other hand, becoming 

 fluid. The organic substances (osteine, musculine, &c.) have the pe- 

 culiar property of fixing an amount of water of far greater volume 

 and weight than themselves, while they still remain, and also render 

 the water demi-solid. Organs formed principally of these substances, 

 however (and hence containing much water, as explained), alone live 

 independently and on their own account' alone present the double 

 vital phenomenon of composition and decomposition. 



But it is not, however, merely pure water the mere protoxide 

 of hydrogen that is fixed and solidified by albumen, gelatine, &c., 

 but a saline solution instead. Hence they swell when immersed in 

 pure water, since an additional amount of the latter is thus gene- 

 rally fixed. 



The muscle of the calf contains more water than that of the ox; 

 but an equal weight of human bone (separate from the marrow), 

 whether from the infant or the adult, contains the same amount 

 of it. 



Tables are given of the diseases in which the blood contains an 

 abnormal amount of water, whether in excess or diminution. Since, 

 however, the blood is, in almost all cases, taken from the arm alone, 

 while that of the vena portae, of the hepatic, veins, and of the renal 

 veins, is different, and cannot be examined in man, we need further 

 investigation in regard to the blood in these latter vessels, in case of 

 diseased animals, that we may thus infer its condition in the same 

 vessels in cases of disease in the human body. 



Whence comes the water in the body? for it both enters and 

 leaves the body already formed, i. e. as protoxide of hydrogen. 

 The water in the ovurn and in the embryo during development is 



