THE BLOOD. 107 



scale was found to oscillate between 48 and 4, these two 

 numbers representing the highest and the lowest proportions. 

 In six cases of hydrocele, the amount of albumen was, as 

 represented by the following figures, 59, 55 ; two of 51 ; 49, 

 35. It should be remarked that none of these analyses refer 

 to cases of dropsy connected with excess of albumen in the 

 urine. It would be interesting to ascertain the amount of 

 the albuminous element contained in the serum effused in 

 such cases. 



MM. Andral and Gavarret state that they did not find 

 that either the cause of the hydropsy, or its seat, excited any 

 influence over the quantity of albumen of the effused serum ; 

 but they remarked that the amount did in some degree 

 depend upon the condition of the constitution, and that the 

 more robust its state the greater the proportion of the 

 albumen : in this way the higher scale exhibited in the six 

 cases of hydrocele may be accounted for, their occurring in 

 persons all of whom were young and strong ; and thus, also, 

 the great depression of that scale may be explained in those 

 whose constitutions have been weakened by repeated 

 tappings. 



Two explanations may be given of the reason why blood 

 less rich than ordinary in albumen should give rise to serous 

 effusion. The first is, that the abstraction of the albumen 

 may alter the density of the serum, and thus permit more 

 readily its escape through the walls of the vessels; the second 

 is, that blood deprived of its albumen becomes less yielding, 

 and so glides less easily along the walls of the capillary vessels, 

 thus occasioning in them an obstruction to the circulation and 

 consequent effusion of serum. Of these explanations the 

 former is, perhaps, the more probable. 



The proportion of water in all serous effusion is, of course, 

 considerable, and is greatest in those cases in which there is 

 least albumen. The mean proportion of water in the serum 

 of the blood is 790 in 1000 parts; in the fluid of dropsies 

 the highest scale hitherto observed is 986, and the lowest 

 930. 



The fluid effused in burns and scalds, and as the result of 



