Blind, MATHILDE

(“CLAUDE LAKE"). English poet, step Blood. Fluid which circulates through the heart, arteries, and veins, which absorbs the nutriment from the digested food, distributes it to the ti ues of the body, and absorbs oxygen from the air in the lungs. It also takes up the waste products of the body, the carbonic acid pa ing out by the lungs and the solids by the urine, perspiration, and intestines. It is alkaline in reaction, of an average specific gravity of 1.055, bright red in the arteries, and dark red in the veins, the difference being due to the larger amount of oxygen in the former. Ab. 79 per cent consists of d water, the rest of solids. It con- tains ab. 67 per cent of serum and 33 of corpuscles. The serum is the light yellow fluid which separates during the proce of clotting, con- tains 90 per cent of water, 8 of al- buminoids, and two of fat and salts. a, Human red blood-corpuscles as The corpuscles are of two kinds, the red in the proportion of about 700 to 1 of the white. In man the red IMG:content-0554.png:[ocr errors] thick and 일행이 in diameter, and are slightly thinner in the middle than at the edge. The white corpuscles are about one-third larger than the red, and exhibit what is known as amæboid movements. The total amount of blood in the human body in health equals about part of its entire weight. Cooked bullock's and sheep's blood are largely used as food by many races, especially the Germans and Italians, and at one time raw blood was used. Although it has consider- able value as a food, twice that of milk, this practice was soon abandoned on account of the danger of contracting tapeworm. It is still used in cases of great exhaustion in nutrient enemata and by being injected into the ti ues or abdominal cavity. Hæmoglobin, the coloring matter of the red corpuscles, cor- tains considerable iron, is used when that metal is indicated, and is a very desirable form, as it is readily taken up and little liable to affect the digestion. It po e es slight nutritive value on ac- count of the albuminoids found in it. IMG:content-0555.png:[blocks in formation]