The blood, anatomically, physiologically, & pathologically considered, with a view to exemplify or set forth, by instance or example, the wisdom, power, and goodness of God, as revealed and declared in holy writ / by Charles Edward Joseph.

  • Joseph Charles Edward.
Date:
[1846]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The blood, anatomically, physiologically, & pathologically considered, with a view to exemplify or set forth, by instance or example, the wisdom, power, and goodness of God, as revealed and declared in holy writ / by Charles Edward Joseph. 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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    variety, the buffy coat is seen, which must now be noticed as always present in inflammatory fever. I will premise, however, that I do not think we should refer these different degrees of coagulation to a change in the chemical constitution of the fibrine. Why should not this singular change of action be referred to the operations of that mysterious agent, which all physiologists agree to assign a place in the body? but some grudgingly refuse to allow an influence over as many functions as they can with conscience claim, ascribing them .to any chemi- cal change, however absurd, to electricity even, rather than to the principle of life, the finest, because the most mysterious, part of the animal. But with regard to the buffy coat of the blood. When blood drawn from a person suffering under inflam- matory fever, or even local inflammation which affects the sys- tem generally, is set aside to coagulate, a considerable time elapses before this process is performed. On looking then into the vessel, we see a moderately sized clot floating in a greenish liquid. But the clot is not here coloured alike through its whole extent; the lower part is red, and shows that the fibrine is there mingled with the red corpuscles, while the upper part is of a yellow buff colour, evidently consisting solely of fibrine. Some- times this upper part, on examination, exhibits two layers, the upper of the two being soft and easily broken, while the lower is more sohd and coherent. Accompanying this appearance also, when the blood is collected in a deep vessel, the upper surface of the crassamentum will be concave, for the fibrine is able to contract into less compass when separate, than when mixed with the red corpuscles, consequently the upper edges of the coagu- lum are inverted, and the surface concave. This appearance is termed buffed and cupped. This peculiar action appears depen- dent upon the relative quantity and specific gravity of the com- ponent parts of the blood. Thus, if the specific gravity of the liquor sanguinis be less, or the red particles greater, than natu- ral, it will ensue. The way in which this appearance is generally accounted for, is the following: the red particles form the hea-