REMARKS ON COMPOSITION OF THE BLOOD. 611 
one, as expressing the fact that the material in solidifying 
arranges itself in the form of threads or fibres. 
The means which are usually adopted to obtain fibrine 
consist of whipping the blood with a small bundle of twigs, 
immediately on its being drawn from the vessels. 1 he 
fibrine under these circumstances adheres to the twigs par¬ 
ticle by particle, until the whole of it is separated from the 
other component parts of the blood. On washing the mass 
thus obtained to free it from the small quantity of red colour¬ 
ing matter which it had enclosed, the fibrine is found to con¬ 
sist of white, tough, and elastic fibres interwoven together, 
and crossing each other in every possible direction. A mi¬ 
croscopic examination of the smallest portion of one of these 
filaments reveais the further fact, that it also is made up of 
minute threads arranged in a similar manner to that of the 
whole mass. 
The quantity of fibrine existing in the blood rarely exceeds 
three parts in ever} 7 thousand in health; but, like the albu¬ 
men, it also is liable to variation, being both increased and 
diminished, according to different conditions of the organism. 
In a full habit of body, and especially if inflammatory action 
should supervene on this state of the system, the proportion 
of fibrine quickly increases until, according to Andral, in 
cases of active inflammation of the viscera it may amount to 
ten parts in a thousand. All pathologists admit a great 
increase under these circumstances; but there are few who 
place it quite so high as Andral. Among the advantages 
consequently which are derivable from blood-letting in inflam¬ 
matory affections, we must name that which arises from the 
withdrawal by the operation of a portion of this excess of 
fibrine. The benefit, however, is frequently not so great as 
might at first sight appear, arising from the circumstance 
that so long as inflammation persists, there is a suspension 
of the vital functions of the affected organ, and consequently 
a continuous cause for the accumulation of fibrine, none of 
that substance being consumed for the nutrition of the dis* 
eased structure. 
In diseases of the opposite character to those just alluded 
to, this important element of the liquor sanguinis is diminished 
in quantity, often sinking below even one part in a thousand. 
Hence a deficiency of fibrine is asociated with typhoid fevers, 
as likewise with many other diseases of an asthenic nature ; 
which are not found to yield until an increase of the fibrine 
begins again to take place .—Journal off tire Royal Agricultural 
Society. 
{To be continued .) 
