Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ) 
August,  1921.  5 
Blood  Coagulants. 
543 
BLOOD  COAGULANTS  * 
By  Louis  Gershenfeld,  Ph.  M.,  B.  Sc., 
Professor  of  Bacteriology  and  Hygiene,  Philadelphia  College  of 
Pharmacy  and  Science. 
Blood  Coagulants  may  be  divided  into  two  classes:  (a)  Non- 
specific, and  (b)  Specific  types.  Under  the  first  class  are  included 
the  metallic  salts  and  others  which  act  by  directly  precipitating  pro- 
teins. They  are  more  frequently  known  as  Hemostatics.  One  can 
readily  see  that  the  latter  can  only  be  employed  in  accessible  hemor- 
rhages. .  It  is  impossible  to  employ  them  in  inaccessable  hemorrhages 
as  death  would  result  when  such  substance  would  be  injected  into  the 
blood  stream. 
The  so-called  Specific  Blood  Coagulants  are  of  recent  origin, 
and  their  introduction  are  as  a  result  of  a  more  thorough  under- 
standing of  the  theory  of  the  Coagulation  of  Blood,  which  at  one 
time  was  thought  to  be  nothing  more  than  a  reaction  between  a  so- 
called  Fibrin  Ferment  on  the  protein  material  in  blood  (Fibrinogen) 
with  the  production  of  fibrin  and  the  typical  blood  clot. 
The  writer  thinks  that  pharmacists  should  know  more  about 
these  products,  as  they  may  have  occasion  to  dispense  some  of  them. 
An  intelligent  understanding  at  such  occasion  may  result  in  a 
complete  satisfaction  to  all  concerned. 
The  first  of  these  products  employed  extensively  was  Normal 
Blood  Serum. 
Normal  Serum  from  humans,  but  usually  from  differ- 
ent animals  (especially  the  horse),  though  not  a  specific  immunity 
product  has  been  employed  in  the  treatment  of  hemorrhage  to  in- 
crease the  coagubality  of  the  blood. 
The  serum  is  usually  obtained  from  a  normal  animal  under 
sterile  precautions.  The  product  is  passed  through  a  Berkef  eld  filter, 
sterility  and  toxicity  tests  are  performed,  and  it  is  then  marketed  in 
sterile  containers. 
The  principle  of  its  action  when  employed  (as  it  may  be  locally 
or  in  doses  of  from  io  to  30  cc.  subcutaneously,  intramuscularly  or  in 
critical  cases  intravenously)  is  as  follows : 
*  Read  before  a  meeting  of  the  Penna.  Pharm.  Assoc.,  June,  1921. 
