A treatise on the blood, inflammation, and gun-shot wounds / by John Hunter ; with notes by James F. Palmer.

  • John Hunter
Date:
1840
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on the blood, inflammation, and gun-shot wounds / by John Hunter ; with notes by James F. Palmer. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    To zee whether the blood in a young person or an old one beeome soonest putrid, I desired that the following trials should be made : June 24th. Some blood was taken from a woman twenty years of age, and its surface, after coagulation, was covered with an in- flammatory crust. On the same day some blood was taken from a woman aged sixty, the crassamentum of which was also covered with an inflammatory crust. These quantities of blood were set by. The blood from the old woman putrefied in two days. That from the young woman kept quite sweet till the fifth day, when it began to smell disagreeably; in this state it continued two days more, and then omitted the common odour of putrid blood. Several experiments were made in the course of the summer, of a similar nature with the last, in all which it appeared that the blood from young people kept longer sweet than that which was taken from the old. In October, 1790, when the weather was cold, some blood was taken from two men, one of whom was seventy-five years of age, cules themselves, of whose organization there can he no doubt. Some hare regarded these particles as distinct monads, possessing an independent vitality. 18th. The last argument for the coagulation of the blood is derived from the phenomenon of union by the first intention, and the power which the blood has of originating and carrying on organization and action within itself. Animals and vegetables have a power of action within themselves, by which they are capable of working themselves into a form and a higher state of existence. Now the blood seems to possess this characteristic property of life as well as the solids, for extravasated blood forms either vessels in itself, or vessels shoot out from the original surface of contact into it. ... I have reason to believe that the coagulum has the power, under necessary circumstances, to form vessels in and of itself. .... 1 think 1 have been able to inject what I suspected to be the begin- ning of a vascular formation in a coagulum, when it could not derive any vessels from the surrounding parts. But it may be asked how could these vessels be injected if there was no connexion ? The decision of this point would afford a true crucial instance decisive of the vitality of the blood ; but unfortunately the present state of science does not enable us to come to any satisfactory conclu- sion in this matter. I have already intimated {note, p. 49), that Hunter's notions on the subject of union by the first intention do not seem supported by sufficient data ; but I must beg leave to refer the reader to part ii. chap. i. for the evidence which at present exists on this subject. There can be little doubt, I think, that effused lymph has a power of self-organization ; but I apprehend it is taking too much for granted to suppose that lymph effused from a cut or inflamed surface is identically the same as lymph as it exists in the circulating blood. I shall only further observe, that the argument for the vitality of .the blood is strictly a cumulative one, and must be viewed in its totality in order to estimate its real force. Taken altogether, the preceding facts raise at least a strong pre- sumption in its favour, not to say a high probability. It may seem inconsistent, after having rejected two of the most material arguments (viz., those founded on coagulation and union by the first intention), that I should introduce them into the present argument; but it should be remembered that these are the arguments employed by Hunter. The explanation of these facts by Mr. Hunter is not demonstrated to be false, but only another explanation is offered, which appears to me to account more easily for the phenomena in question. It is a balance of probabilities, and therefore I conceive it perfectly legitimate to introduce the minor probability into the question, which will carry weight in proportion as it is corroborated by other circumstances.]