M. Jules Béclard' always found the cipher of red corpuscles in the blood of the splenic vein less than in that of the jugular; with a corresponding augmentation in the amount of solid matters in the serum, and a constant increase of fibrin. Otto Funke, however, contests the accuracy of M. Béclard's analyses, and affirms, as the result of numerous careful observations, that there is always a diminution of the fibrin in the blood of the splenic vein; and that this is the only constant article of difference between the blood that enters and that which issues from the spleen; and Lehmann3 remarks, that the investigations of Funke "afford, at all events, a proof, that the greatest caution is necessary in deducing conclusions from individual analyses, and investigations of individual fluids, without reference to the simultaneous constitution of the other animal juices. Many ingenious conclusions would no doubt have been deduced from analyses of the blood of the splenic vein, if the arterial blood had not been simultaneously compared with it." The mean of four observations of the blood of the splenic vein of a crimi nal, by Vierordt, is said to have given the ratio of colourless corpuscles to the coloured as 4.9 to 1. [?]* The following table by Mr. Gray, who was assisted in his chemical. researches by Dr. Noad, exhibits in a tabular form the average results of 111 analyses of the aortic, jugular, and splenic venous blood of the horse: Mr. Gray considers the chief chemical peculiarities of splenic venous blood to consist in a very considerable diminution of the blood corpuscles, an increase of the iron, albumen, and fibrin, and a deep reddish-brown colour of the serum. The subject of the changes produced on the portal blood, more especially as regards the quantity of red corpuscles, will be referred to when considering the functions of the SPLEEN. The character and quantity of the different constituents of the blood, as well as its coagulation, vary greatly in disease; and the investigation is one of the most important in the domain of pathology. It is one that has attracted the attention of modern pathologists, and especially of MM. Andral and Gavarret, and of Simon, and MM. Becquerel and Rodier, who have endeavoured to detect the changes that occur in dis1 Archiv. Général. de Méd., Oct., 1848; and Traité Élémentaire de Physiologie Humaine, p. 411, Paris, 1855. 2 Rudolph Wagner's Lehrbuch der speciellen Physiologie, S. 119, Leipzig, 1854. Physiological Chemistry, translated from the 2d edit., by Dr. Day; Amer. edit.. by Dr. Rogers, i. 631, Philad., 1855. Schmidt's Jahrbüch., x. 789, in Brit. and For. Med.-Chir. Rev., April, 1855, p. 559. Cited by Dr. Day, in Brit. and For. Med.-Chir. Rev., July, 1855, p. 216. ease in the amount of the organic elements of the fluid. These the author has referred to in their appropriate places in another work.' The usual proportions of each element, in 1000 parts of healthy blood, according to M. Lecanu, adopted by MM. Andral and Gavarret, are as follows: Fibrin, Red corpuscles, Solid matter of serum, 3 127 80 790 The average of analyses of the blood of nine healthy individualsfour females and five males, by Dr. Ch. Frick,2 of Baltimore, corresponds nearly with the above. According to Simon,3 the proportions are somewhat different,resulting, in a great measure, from a different method of analysis. The mean of his observations gave The following table exhibits the mean composition of the blood, in eleven cases, as observed by MM. Becquerel and Rodier. From these numbers they draw the following deductions. First. The limits within which the composition of healthy blood varies are restricted, and probably dependent on constitution, age, and diet. Secondly. The number for the corpuscles exceeds 127, which has been regarded as expressing the healthy mean. Thirdly. The number for the fibrin, 2-2, is below that usually admitted as the mean of that element, 3. 1 Practice of Medicine, 3d edit., Philad., 1848. 2 American Journal of the Medical Sciences, Jan., 1848, p. 27. 3 Animal Chemistry, p. 245. It is proper to remark, with Simon, that the sum of the hematin and globulin, in his analysis, can never represent the absolute quantity of blood corpuscles. In his method the nuclei and capsules of the blood corpuscles are estimated as albumen; in that of Berzelius as fibrin; and in that of MM. Andral and Gavarret, as appertaining to the corpuscles. • Gazette Médicale de Paris, Nos. 47, 48, 49, 50, and 51, for 1844. The following tables have been constructed chiefly from the analyses of Denis, Lecanu, Simon, Nasse, Lehmann, Becquerel and Rodier, and Gavarret; and "are designed to combine, as far as possible, the advantage of accuracy in numbers with the convenience of presenting at one view a list of all the constituents of the blood." Average proportions of the chief constituents in 1000 parts:— Average proportion of all the constituents of the blood in 1000 The mode in which the ratio of the various elements of the blood is estimated is detailed by MM. Andral and Gavarret, Simon, and Becquerel and Rodier, in the works referred to. A simpler method has, however, been given by M. Figuier, founded on the fact made known by Berzelius, that after the addition of a solution of a neutral salt to defibrinated blood, the corpuscles do not pass through bibulous paper. On the addition of two parts of a solution of sulphate of soda, of specific gravity 1130, to one of blood, M. Figuier found, that the whole of the corpuscles remained on the surface of the filter. The following is his procedure. The fibrin is removed in the usual way by whipping; and dried, and weighed. The weight of the corpuscles is then ascertained, and that of the albumen by coagulating the filtered solution by means of heat. The proportion of water is determined Kirkes and Paget, Manual of Physiology, 21 Amer. edit., p. 54, Philad., 1853. Annales de Chimie et de Physique, ii. 503, cited in Ranking's Abstract, i. 299, Amer. edit., New York, 1845. by evaporating a small known weight of the blood. The advantage of this plan consists in the facility with which the most important constituents may be determined without any difficult manipulations. The proportion of fibrin, according to MM. Andral and Gavarret, may vary perhaps within the limits of health, from 2 to 3 parts in a thousand. The quantity cannot, however, be accurately estimated, inasmuch as it is always mixed with colourless corpuscles; from which, as Messrs. Kirkes and Paget' have remarked, it cannot be separated by any mode of analysis yet invented. "In health, they may, perhaps, add too little to its weight to merit consideration; but in many diseases, especially in inflammatory and other blood diseases in which the fibrin is said to be increased, these corpuscles become so numerous that a large proportion of the supposed increase of the fibrin must be due to their being weighed with it. On this account all the statements respecting the increase of fibrin in certain diseases need revision." The amount of red corpuscles appears to be subject to greater variation within the limits of health than that of the fibrin. The maximum is about 140, but this is connected with a plethoric condition: the minimum about 110. Strength of constitution contributes most to raise the corpuscles towards the maximum; whilst debility, congenital or acquired, diminishes them towards the minimum proportion. The solid matter of the serum likewise varies, but there is a certain point of diminution in health below which they do not pass.2 The analyses of MM. Becquerel and Rodier exhibit a marked difference in the proportion of the constituents of the blood of the two sexes. So great is this, that in order to attain correct conclusions in regard to morbid blood, it is indispensable to contrast it with the male or female blood in health. The average differences between the two are seen in the following table: Male. Female. The main difference, consequently, between male and female blood is in the amount of water and blood corpuscles.3 i Manual of Physiology, 2d Amer. edit., p. 56, Philad., 1853. 2 Andral, Hématologie Pathologique, p. 29, Paris, 1843. For the differences in blood, according to constitution, temperament, &c., see Simon, Animal Chemistry, Sydenham Society's edition, p. 236, Lond., 1845, or Amer. edit., Philad., 1846. VOL. I.-25 |