TRANSUDATIONS. 183 



dations. Hence they contain little albumen in Bright's disease of 

 the kidney. 



The salts in the translations are most abundant when the blood 

 is richer in water ; though they are always less, proportionally, than 

 in the blood-serum, except in some cases of Bright's disease. The 

 chlorine and potassium compounds predominate over the other solu- 

 ble salts, in the transudations as well as in the blood-serum. In cho- 

 lera, or after the administration of drastic purgatives, the quantity 

 of salts is five or even seven times as great as that of the albumen ; 

 these transudations being, at the same time, richer in water than 

 any other fluid in the organism. 



Fibrine is said by Lehmann to be present in some morbid transu- 

 dations, and which are termed fibrinous transudations by Jul. Yogel. 

 We should, however, term a fluid containing fibrine in the circum- 

 stances supposed, an exudation, and not a mere transudation. If 

 blood-corpuscles appear in a transudation, laceration of the minute 

 vessels must also have occurred. 



But little of the neutral and saponifiable fats is found in the 

 transudations. The non-saponifiable fats (cholesterine and seroline) 

 are far more abundant. The former, especially, is often very abun- 

 dant in the fluid of .ovarian dropsy and of hydrocele. It often 

 abounds, also, in those from the ventricles of the brain, and from 

 the peritoneum and pleura. 



Bile-pigment and urea are also found in transudations ; and sugar, 

 in cases of diabetes. 



The quantity of the transuded fluids varies greatly in pathological 

 conditions, between the least perceptible increase of the normal 

 transudation or secretion and the highest extremes. In a case re- 

 ported by the author, 103 pounds of transuded fluid were removed 

 from the peritoneal cavity ; the patient (a female) being 63 inches 

 in circumference. 1 



Uses. The normal transudatiou in the areolar tissue gives it its 

 required fulness and suppleness; while the halitus of the lungs and 

 the transudation of the skin aid incidentally in preserving a moist 

 condition of the pulmonary mucous membrane and the external 

 integument. The rest are merely pathological phenomena. 



1 American Journal of the Medical Sciences, Jan. 1856. 



