CONTROVERSY ON CARCONiC ACID IN THE BLOOD. 
9 
Blood. 
BLOOD. 
Water. . 
Albumen 
and Salts 
Red glo. . 
bules &. . 
fibrin. . . . 
FIRST. 
[second 
THIRD, 
FORTH. 
FIRST - 
SECOND. 
81.36 
85.49 
87.41 
89.2 5 
Water 
82.48 
83.47 
6.89 
5.50 
5.77 
5.52 
Albumen and Salts. . . 
6.70 
5.95 
11.75 
9.01 
6.82 
5.2 
Globules. 
10.82 
10.58 
100.00 
100.00 
100.00 
100 .00 
100.00 
100.00 
The serum had at the third bleeding, a 
specific gravity of 1 .020, and at the fourth, of 
],0]7. At the third bleeding, the specific 
gravity of the blood itsell was 1.031. 
The next calf whose blood was examined, 
was nine weeks old. I did not procure any 
blood from the first bleeding. The third 
bleeding was twenty four hours after the 
second, and during that period, the animal 
was once fed ; twelve hours afterwards it 
was bled a fourth time, butit received no more 
food : 
Water .... 
Albumen and 
Salts 
SERUM. 
SECOND. 
THIRD, 
FOURTH. 
”937^ 
94.39 
94.50 
6.68 
.5.61 
5.41 
100.00 
100. 00, 
loo.oo 
W ater 
Albumen and 
Salts Red 
Globules and 
Fibrin 
The albumen and salts it is evident, de- 
crease at each bleeding ; the diminution is, 
however, very variable, and even after the 
fourth time does not amount to one per cent, 
and a half. In the globules, the same dimi- 
nution takes place but to such a degree that 
they are at least reduced to less than one 
half their original quantity. To this principle, 
a remarkable exception occurs in the com- 
position of the blood taken at the last 
bleeding of the second calf, where the globules 
are slightly increased above the preceding- 
analysis ; but it will be observed, that the 
animal received no food during the interven - 
ing period, from which the blood might ob- 
tain afresh supply of serum, while the ten- 
dency of the different excretions of the animal 
was to drain from the circulating mass its 
aqueous part, and thus to increase the appa- 
rent quantity of the globules. This explana- 
tion is confirmed by the following analysis. 
A calf three w'eeks old was bled twice 
before it was killed, twelve hours elapsed 
between the two bleedings, during which 
time it obtained no food : — 
, SERUM. 
Water 
Albumen and Salts . . . 
FIRST. 
SECOND. 
92.48 
7.52 
93.35 
6.65 
100.00 
100.00 
BLOOD. 
SECOND, 
THIRD. 
FOURTH 
82.05 
89. 14 
88.92 
5 . 85 
5.29 
5.0G 
12.10 
5.57 
6.04 
JOO.OO 
100.00 
100. 0 
The globules have here it is true diminished 
at the second bleeding, but so slightly, that 
we may at^tribute this circumstance to the 
unassimilated chyle which must have been 
present in the system. In the former case 
the animal had been exhausted by previous 
depletions, and hence possesed no store from 
which the blood could derive even a small 
portion of serum, as in the latter instance. 
RESEARCHES ON THE BLOOD. 
BY L. GMELIN AND F. TIEDEMANN, ASSISTED BY 
E. MITSCH ERLICH. 
Poggendorff’s Annalen xxxi. 
Observers have differed with regard to the 
presence of carbonic acid in the blood. 
Vogel found that under the receiver of an 
air pump, lime water was acted on by the 
disengaged carbonic acid. 
Scudamore obtained in the same way, by 
means of barytes water, a precipitate of car- 
bonate of barytes, equivalent to ^ or \ cubic 
inch of carbonic acid gas, from six ounces of 
blood. 
Brande procured from one ounce of arterial 
or veinous blood 2 cubic inches of carbonic 
acid. 
On the other hand, Darwin could detect 
no such acid, and Dr. Davy asserts that it is 
neither extracted during the spontaneous 
coagulation of the blood, nor by the air 
pump, nor by coagulating the serum by heat, 
and that serum absorbs carbonic acid in 
greater quantity than pure water, which 
would not be the case if it was charged with 
carbonic accid. 
Gmeliri and Tiedemann examine with great 
care the blood of a dog taken from the femo- 
ral-vein and artery, and placed in different 
tubes under the rrceiver of an air pump. 
The result was that neither carbonic acid nor 
any other permanent gas was extricated. To 
ascertain the accuracy of Davy’s statement 
with respect to the absorbing power of blood 
being greater than that of water, carbonic 
acid was allowed to stand over arterial blood 
for 5 days, when it was ascertained that 100 
measures of blood absorb 120 of carbonic 
acid. The coagulum appeared blackish red, 
and the liquid portion was extremely clear. 
Since blood contains no free carbonic acid, 
it was necessary to ascertain whether any 
existed in it in a combined state. Vinegar 
was added to each of the kinds of blood which 
had been collected, as in the former experi- 
ments, with every precaution to ensure accu- 
racy, and was placed under a receiver. A 
quantity of carbonic acid escaped from both, 
more abundantly from the veinous than the 
