On the Coagulation of the Blood. 



255 



graph of the British Palaeozoic Phyllopoda. Part 1. 4to. London 

 1888. The Authors. 



Kingzett (C. T.) Nature's Hygiene. 3rd edit. 8vo. London 1888. 



The Author. 



Macadam (W. I.) Manures, Natural and Artificial. 8vo. London 



1888. The Author. 



Roscoe (Sir H. E.), F.R.S., and 0. Schorlemmer, F.R.S. Ausfuhrliches 



Lehrbuch der Chemie. Bd. II. Abth. 1. Bd. IY. Abth. 3. 8vo. 



Braunschweig 1888. The Authors. 



Todd (D. P.) Preliminary Report (Unofficial) on the Total Solar 



Eclipse of 1887. 8vo. Amherst, Mass. 1888. The Author. 



" On the Coagulation of the Blood." Preliminary Communi- 

 cation. By W. D. Halliburton, M.D., B.Sc, Assistant 

 Professor of Physiology, University College, London. 

 Communicated by Professor E. A. Schafer, F.R.S. (From 

 the Physiological Laboratory, University College, London.) 

 Received March 20 —Read April, 2b', 1888. 



The theory to account for the coagulation of the blood "which is 

 most generally accepted at the present day is that of Hammarsten ; 

 he teaches that coagulation is dependent upon the conversion of a 

 proteid substance, fibrinogen, which exists in solution in the plasma, 

 iii to fibrin by means of a ferment liberated by the disintegration of 

 the white blood corpuscles which occurs when the blood leaves the 

 living blood- vess°ls. This theory has replaced the older one of Ah 

 Schmidt, who taught that fibrin is formed by the union of two fibrin- 

 generators, one of which is the fibrinogen just mentioned, and the 

 other of which he called fibrinoplastic substance or paraglobulin ; this 

 union, moreover, occurs under the influence of a third factor, the 

 fibrin ferment.* Ham mar stent showed that paraglobulin, or as it is 

 now more generally called serum globulin, is not necessary for the 

 formation of fibrin. 



The present research was directed to determining the nature of the 

 ferment that produces this change in fibrinogen. The result at which 

 I have arrived is sufficiently definite to warrant a preliminary statement 

 of the facts observed ; the full details of the experiments, as well as 

 those of certain others which are at present in progress, will be 

 reserved for a later communication. 



I will first briefly relate some preliminary experiments}; which had 



* ' Pfluger's Archir,' toI. 6, p. 413 et seq. 



f Ibid., toI. 14, p. 211 ; 17, p. 413 ; 18, p. 38 j 19, p. 563. 



J An account of some of these preliminary experiments is contained in the report 

 VOL. XLIV. U 



