On the coagulation of the blood and other fibriniferous liquids.

  • Andrew Buchanan
Date:
[1845]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the coagulation of the blood and other fibriniferous liquids. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    fibrin only coagulates under tlie influence of suitable reagents: and that the blood, and most other liquids of tho body which appear to coagulate spontaneously, only do so, in consequence of their contain- ing at once fibrin and substances capable of re-acting upon it, and so occasioning coagulation. The liquid of hydrocele, and other dropsical liquids, are generally regarded by physiologists as identical with, or at least closely anala- gous to the “ liquor sanguinis,'’ or liquid part of the blood; which they suppose to be effused, both in health and in disease, from the capillary blood vessels into the serous cavities and cellular interstices of the body. I have elsewhere'shown,* that of all these effused liquids that of hydrocele approaches most nearly in its qualities to the serum of healthy blood. In two cases in which the experiment was made, the specific gravity of hydrocelic serum and of the serum of blood drawn from the same individual on the same day, differed very little; and I have recently met with an instance of hydrocelic serum drawn from a very strong man having a specific gravity as high as 1-038, much higher therefore than the ordinary specific gravity of the serum of blood. I entertain no doubt, therefore, that the serum drawn off in cases of hydrocele, is, for the most part, identical with the liquid part of the blood. Such an opinion, however, can scarcely be held by those who believe the liquid part of the blood to be spontaneously coagula- ble; for, without controversy, the liquid of hydrocele possesses no such property, as I have ascertained by attentive observation in many hundred cases. If carefully drawn off, it may be kept till it putrifies without showing the slightest tendency to coagulate. If, again, as frequently happens, a little blood has been accidentally mingled with it, coagulation may ensue, not spontaneously, but from the re-action of certain elements of the blood upon the dissolved fibrin. This, if we leave out of sight the propensity to make facts bend to theory, is the only explanation that can be given of the assertion frequently made, but so inconsistent with observation, that the fluid of hydrocele is spontaneously coagulable. What arc the elements of the blood that have the power of causing fibrin to coagulate ? The washed clot of the blood is the most efficient. It is perhaps indeed the only element of the blood that has the pro- perty of coagulating fibrin. The washed clot is the substance which is usually, but very erroneously, named the fibrin of the blood. It is best obtainedt by mixing one part of liquid blood with from six to ten of water, and stirring them carefully for five minutes, so as to prevent the blood from falling to the bottom and coagulating unmixed. After the mixture has stood from twelve to twenty-four hours, it is to be filtered through a coarse linen cloth, and tho product washed with water. The mass thus obtained consists, chiefly, of the insoluble * Med. Gazette, 1830’. ■|- Med. Gazette, 183(i.
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