50 



scope. These changes of form and the resulting movements 

 of the whole corpuscle have been compared to the actions of 

 certain protozoa, called Amoebse. With reference to the 

 chemical composition of the blood, Professor Redfern directed 

 attention to the following facts : — The blood is composed of 

 78 parts of fluid and 22 parts of solid matter. Of the twenty- 

 two solid parts, fourteen may be assigned to corpuscles, seven 

 to the albumen, and one-fourth of a part to fibrin. In addition 

 to these, which are the principal constituents, there exists a 

 small proportion of various salts — chiefly common salt, or 

 chloride of sodium. The chlorine of the salt supplies an esen- 

 tial element to the gastric juice, while its soda is related in a 

 similar manner to the secretion of the pancreas. Whatever 

 other purpose the red blood corpuscles may serve in the 

 economy, carefully conducted experiments lead to the con- 

 clusion that probably their most important function is to con- 

 vey oxygen, and to nourish the muscular and nervous tissues, 

 while observation indicates a striking relation between the 

 proportion of red corpuscles of the blood, and the strength 

 and nervous energy of an animal. Here the lecturer stated 

 that he thought it worth recollection by the ladies pre- 

 sent, that the proportion of globules in the blood is much 

 larger in men than in women, and that the variations in quan- 

 tity are far greater in women than in men. This means greater 

 capacity for physical and intellectual exertion in men than in 

 women ; and also greater uniformity in such actions at dif- 

 ferent periods. There are people who tell us that the world 

 has got upside down, or that it should be turned so — that in 

 the very struggle for existence, women must needs labour 

 like men, and in the same fields of exertion too. And Darwin 

 tells us that the weaker individuals of races of animals have 

 been crushed out of existence by the stronger ones. What 

 will happen in the struggle now going on in society ? It is 

 not man's fault that he has got more globules in his blood than 

 women have — if he prove stronger he need not be blamed. 



