410  Bullock's  Blood— a  New  Remedy.  \k%llTiVm™ 
BULLOCK'S  BLOOD— A  NEW  REMEDY. 
In  the  practice  of  medicine,  as  in  other  worldly  matters,  certain 
things  are  in  fashion  for  a  certain  time.  Bleeding  and  mercury  have 
had  their  day  ;  cod-liver  oil  and  chloral  hydrate  are  already  on  the 
wane ;  alcohol  and  bullock's  blood  are  now  in  vogue  among  the  Pari- 
sians,— the  former  for  fevers  and  all  inflammatory  affections,  and  the 
latter  for  anaemia  and  pulmonary  phthisis.  It  is  a  curious  sight  to  see 
the  number  of  patients  of  both  sexes  and  of  all  ranks  and  ages  who 
flock  to  the  slaughter-house  every  morning  to  drink  of  the  still  fuming 
blood  of  the  oxen  slaughtered  for  the  table.  I  was  struck  at  the  fa- 
cility with  which  young  ladies  take  to  it,  and  I  have  heard  many  say 
that  they  prefer  it  to  cod-liver  oil.  I  shall  not  enter  into  any  theoreti- 
cal speculations  as  to  its  modus  operandi,  but  what  I  can  vouch  for  is, 
I  know  of  several  cases  of  anaemia  that  have  been  cured  and  some  of 
phthisis  pulmonalis  greatly  benefitted  by  the  treatment,  at  least,  as 
much  as  they  would  be  under  cod-liver  oil.  For  the  more  fastidious, 
however,  a  pharmacien  has  prepared  an  extract  of  blood,  which  is  ad- 
ministered in  the  form  of  pills,  each  of  which,  weighing  about  three 
grains,  is  said  to  be  equivalent  to  about  half  an  ounce  of  pure  blood. 
M.  Boussingault,  a  distinguished  chemist,  lately  read  a  paper  be- 
fore the  Academy  of  Sciences,  giving  an  account  of  his  researches  on 
the  composition  of  the  blood,  and  expressed  his  surprise  that,  contain- 
ing as  it  does  all  the  constituents  of  a  perfect  aliment,  it  is  not  more 
generally  employed  as  food.  This  is  a  subject  worthy  the  consider- 
ation of  philanthropists,  especially  in  these  days,  when  the  price  of 
meat  is  everywhere  steadily  increasing, — at  least,  among  the  meat- 
eating  population  ;  and  it  strikes  me  that  the  rivers  of  blood  that  are 
daily  spilt  on  the  ground  in  slaughter-houses  might  be  utilized  as  food. 
In  Europe,  pig's  blood  is  the  most  generally  consumed  in  the  form  of 
sausages  ;  but  that  of  all  animals,  without  distinction,  might  in  this 
way  be  more  usefully  employed.  It  is  well  known  that  in  the  steppes 
of  South  America  the  natives  have  for  a  long  time  used  as  food  the 
blood  of  the  animals  they  chased,  which  they  previously  coagulate 
and  season  with  different  condiments. 
According  to  M.  Boussingault,  of  all  nutritive  substances  the  blood 
of  animals  contains  the  greatest  quantity  of  iron  ;  and  although  va- 
rying in  different  animals,  it  is  in  physiological  conditions  found  in 
certain  fixed  proportions  in  the  blood.    In  man,  to  100  grammes  of 
