Clinical diagnosis : the bacteriological, chemical, and microscopical evidence of disease / by Rudolf v. Jaksch ; translated from the second German edition by James Cagney ; with an appendix by Wm. Stirling.

  • Cagney James.
Date:
1890
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Clinical diagnosis : the bacteriological, chemical, and microscopical evidence of disease / by Rudolf v. Jaksch ; translated from the second German edition by James Cagney ; with an appendix by Wm. Stirling. 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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    o II. THE REACTION of healthy blood, like that of ne.avly all the tissue fluids, is alkaline. [It is due to the presence of disodic phos- phate, NaoHPO^, and bicarbonate of soda.] Still, this reaction is liable to considerable variation under certain conditions of health as well as in disease. The alkalinity of the blood diminishes when it has been withdrawn from the influence of living blood-ves.sels. Hence we find that an acid reaction is one of the phenomena of coagulation, and that this becomes more pronounced the longer the blood is allowed to stand. [The change depends upon the formation of an acid derived, pro- bably, from the decomposition of the colouring-matter of the red cor- puscles.] To test the reaction of the blood, Liehreicli'^ employs plates of plaster of Paris or clay soaked in neutral litmus solution. A few drops of the blood to be examined are placed upon this, and washed off again with water.* If the blood was alkaline, the spot upon which it has fallen exhibits a blue, but if acid, a red colour. For the same purpose Zuntz ^ uses glazed litmus paper soaked in a solution of common salt or sulphate of soda; this he dips several times in the blood to be tested, and again washes in the salt solution. The same thing may be done by allowing a drop of the blood to fall on the litmus paper, and then quickly washing it off again, as in Liebreich’s method. (See Appendix I.) For the comparative estimation of the alkalinity of the blood in animals, Lassar^ has devised a process, which, however, cannot be applied to the case of human beings, where the requisite quantity of blood is not available. On the other hand, the plan which Landois^ recommends is very suitable for clinical purposes. The author has obtained useful results in a large series of observa- tions by proceeding according to the following method (a modification of that of Landois), for the quantitative estimation of the alkalinity of the blood ;— A mixture is made of a concentrated solution of sulphate of soda with i/ioo and i/iooo normal solution of tartaric acid (I.) in various propor- tions ; and in this way a series of test-fluids is obtained, the members of which contain varying quantities of acid to the cubic centimetre.! * [The reaction of the blood with ordinary litmus paper is obscured by the red colour of the fluid, and the various expedients for its determination are directed to overcome this difficulty.] + The fluids are prepared thus : 7.5 grins, of pure tartaric acid are dissolved in a litre of water, and a normal solution (i/io of the acid) results. By appropriate dilution of this, the other normal solutions (i/ioo and i/iooo) may be obtained. {v. JcLksch, Zeitschr. fiir klin. Medicin, xiii. 350, 1SS7.)