FOXTON-FIRBY : NATURE AND COLOUR OF BLOOD. 101 



acids, in combinatioii with soda, potash, ammonia, lime, magnesia, and a 

 small portion of phosphorized fat ; secondly of certain minute globular 

 particles termed corpuscles, which float in the liquor sanguinis. Now to 

 undersand how th^se minute globular bodies are so marvellously adapted to 

 nourish the animal body, whether it be one of the largest of mammals, or the 

 tiniest of earth-creatures bearing the Divine Imprint, let us place before our 

 eyes the constituent parts of this marvellously complex and life-holding fluid. 

 Let us open a vein, and take from the body a portion of blood. If we allow 

 it to remain at rest for ten or fifteen minutes a remarkable change is at once 

 observable. By degrees it gelatinizes and forms spontaneously coagulum and 

 serum. The fluid has become a soKd, and this is the only change which is 

 yet palpable to our senses. After the expiration of a few hours we find that 

 the congealed mass has acquired a greater degree of consistence, and, as the 

 eflect of this contraction, is surrounded with a semi-translucent yellowish 

 fluid, which is called serum. This serum consists of water, albumen, and 

 the various saline matters ; coagulum, of the fibrin and corpuscles. Now 

 what is there in this blood to produce this coagulation ? Why does it not 

 remain in its primary state of fluidity, as when first drawn from the living 

 body ? There must be some peculiar law to account for this metamorphosis. 

 In itself, and as seen flowing in the veins and arteries of a living creature, 

 it appears a colourless fluid, with minute red particles wliich give the blood 

 its beautiful scarlet hue ; and so long as it remains in a fluid state it holds in 

 solution a particular substance called J^&r^?^, which, in its ultimate composi- 

 tion, difierentiates little or nothing from albumen, or the white of an egg. 

 This substance is distributed through the whole of the body, but is found 

 chiefly in the blood, because that important fluid, in its course and flow, sup- 

 plies to every individual part of the complex structure the materials essential 

 to its developmental progress and growth. Take the blood from the living 

 structure, and the fibrin remains no longer in solution. Instead of being 

 diffused and interpenetrating to various parts of the living organism, it con- 

 tracts and coagulates, till it has pressed out the serum by the mutual attrac- 

 tion of its homogeneous particles. The congealed blood, under the microscope, 

 presents a peculiar and unique arrangement. It is not a mere aggregation, 

 or promiscuous accumulation of particles, but a beautifully reticulated dispo- 

 sition of fibres crossing and intersecting one another at every conceivable 

 angle. This bizarre arrangement may be seen in the common egg-shell, 

 which is nothing more than so many layers of fibrous tissue enveloping the 



