Anaemia.

  • Paul Ehrlich
Date:
[1910?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Anaemia. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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    mucous membranes arc pule, hyperfcmia of tlio retina exists. This proves that the blood circulating in tlie vesHcls is paler but not sparser than normal. The character of tlie pulse also may give an ini])()rtaiit indication in cases in which the (HniiMu- tion of the (Quantity of blood is considerable; in marked oliga^mia a very small and soft pulse is always found. The wa,y hi which fresh wounds bleed may serve as a criterion of the quantity of blood ; this, however, can only be utilised within certain limitations, depending to a large extent on the coagul- ability of the blood. Those who have had occasion to examine the blood of anaemic persons frequently will have experienced that this behaviour is subject to great variations. In certain cases scarcely a drop of blood can be obtained in the ordinary way, while in other cases the blood flows freely. There is little risk of mistake, if an absolute diminution of the total quantity of blood is assumed in the former case. The degree of fulness of the peripheral vessels is, however, only an index of relative value, since the blood content of the internal organs may be quite different. The task of determining the exact quantity of blood in a body in figures has always been one of utmost importance. The solution would mark a very great advance in hsematology. Of the methods which have hitherto been suggested for use in clinical medicine, that emanating from Tarchanoff deserves mention. Tarchanoff proposed that by determining the loss of water during profuse sweating, and by comparative red blood cell counts both before and after the sweating, an estimate of the quantity of blood could be arrived at. This method, apart from many theoretical difficulties, is much too complicated to be applicable to practice. Quincke attempted to determine the quantity of blood by means of calculations, while carrying out therapeutic trans- fusion of blood. The quantity of blood in the person into whose vessels blood is being transfused can be calculated by means of a simple mathematical formula, from the number of red cells in his blood before and after the transfusion, and from
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