Farther observations on the state of the blood after taking food.

  • Buchanan, Andrew, 1798-1882.
Date:
[1845]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Farther observations on the state of the blood after taking food. 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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    it was printed. The conclusions to which they appeared to load, when taken in connexion with the other observations there narrated, were, first, that the azotized articles of food, after being digested in the first passages, and absorbed into the blood-vessels, were found there, in the first instance, as the white substance which gives to the serum of the blood its milky colour; second, that oily substances appeared to con- tribute to the formation of the white matter; and, third, that most of the other non-azotized articles of food probably existed in the blood in the form of sugar. These conclusions were not, indeed, formally stated, because they were by no means established, and will indeed be shown below to he to a certain extent incorrect; hut I mention them here, as they give the clue to the experiments now to be described, which were undertaken with the view either of confirming or over- turning the hypotheses just stated. The object of the first trial was to determine whether Starch—a non-azotized substance—made the serum white, and whether the serum was fermentable. Arrow-root was selected as one of the purest forms of starch; and as the conditions to be fulfilled forbade its being sweetened with sugar in the usual way, it was seasoned with aromatics to correct its insipidity. Arrow-Eoot.—On the 12th of April, C., after fasting sixteen hours, had for dinner arrow-root, made with water’, and seasoned with mace and nutmeg. He took from half-a-ponnd to a pound of it. He was hied at three and at six hour’s after the meal. The serum in both instances was quite transparent, without any white matter. The coagulum at three hours had a thick translucent fibrinous crust, marked ■with numerous red dots: that at six hours was natural. This man did not feel again hungry so soon as the men fed -with gelatin, as if the latter substance were dissolved in the stomach more rapidly than an’ow-root. The serum treated with yeast evolved carbonic acid gas in abrtndance, as did also the crassamentum liquified by expression thr’orrgh a lirren cloth. It thus appears that pure Starch, taken as food, gives no white colour to the serum of the blood. This conclusion may be considered as established, as it will be seen below that the experiment was re- peated three times, and always with the same result. I now proceeded to test the hypothesis farther in reference to azotized food. Eggs and Milk.—On the 30th April, 1844, D., after fasting eighteen houi’s, had at noon a pudding, consisting of six eggs and a pint and a half of milk. He was bled twice, to the extent of eight ounces. The blood first drawn, three hours after the meal, gave but a small quantity of serum, which was opaline, resembling whc3L Tlie serum of the blood last drawn, at seven hours after the meal, was much inoi’c abundant. It had less whiteness, but still was not clear, being brownish like syrup,, an appearance I have since found to depend frequently on the presence of a vci’)’’ minute quantity of the red part of the blood. The crassamentum of the blood first drawn had the translucent fibrinous crust well mai’kcd: that of the blood last drawn was natural. Both specimens of scrum showed, under the microscope, a few sphcric.al gr.anules.