Observations on the healthy and diseased properties of the blood / by William Stevens.

Date:
1832
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the healthy and diseased properties of the blood / by William Stevens. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    and in proportion as this takes place, it begins to coagulate, generally in from two to ten minutes. The fibrin, the albumen, &c., are naturally solid, and, with the exception of the colouring matter, the whole of the solid ingredients of the blood owe their fluidity, not to the presence of a free alkali, but, as I believe, to the circumstance of their being held in solution by a saline fluid. While in the circulation, vitality and the incessant motion of the blood tend to prevent the occurrence of those che- mical changes that Avould be fatal to life ; but when a part of this fluid is drawn from the system, exposed to the air, and allowed to rest, it loses its living principle; and then those chemical changes are no longer ])revented which are, in reality, the cause of coagulation; consequently, it is not the living principle, but the loss of its vitality, which is one cause of the sudden change which the blood under- goes when drawn from the body. When we add an acid to the drawn blood, this inter- feres with the agency of the saline matter, and the whole of the ingredients become solid; for, in this case, even the albumen coagulates, and then there is no separation. The fibrin, however, is less soluble in the serum than the albumen; but still, when Ave add immediately an extra portion of the muriate or the carbonate of soda, or any of the other alkaline salts that are natural to the blood, even the fibrin does not then coagulate, and the whole of the iimredients o remain fluid. But, when the blood is left to itself,