Saint Paul weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1858-1859, 1858-09-04

The Blood.

Inc kSlOOOs
Blackwood's Magazine contains paper on
the lfe-current of the human system, em-
bodying many facts, which, however familiar
to professional anthropologists, may be nstuc-
tive to the common mind. We quote some
of the most interesting statements made by
the author of the contribution now in ques'
ton
" The blood is described as torrent i'm
petuously rushing through every part OF the
body, carried by an elaborate net work OF
vessels, which, in the course of twelve months,
convey to the various issues not less than
three thousand pounds weight OF nutritive
material, and convey from the various weight
of waste. At every moment of our lives
there is nearly ten pounds of this fluid rush.
ing in one continuous throbbing stream, from
the heart through the great arteries, which
branch and branch like a tree, the vessels be-
coming smaller,as the, subdivide, till they are
not visible to the naked eye, and then they
are called oapilaries (hair-like vessels,) al
though they are no more to be compared in
calbre with hairs, than hairs are with cables.
These vessels form network finer than the
finest lace-so fine, indeed, that if we pierce
the surface at almost any part with the point
of a needle, we open one of them aud let out
its blood In these vessels the blood yields
some of its nutrient materials, and receives in
exchange some of the wasted products of lis
sue thus modified the stream continues its
rapid course backward to the heart, through
system of veins, which commence in the
myriad capillaries that form the termination
of the arteries. The veins, instead OF sobdi-
viding like the arteries, becomes gradually
less and less numerous, their twigs entering
branches, and the branches trunks, till they
reach the heart. No sooner has the blood
poured into the heart from the VEINS than
it rushes through the lungs, and form them
back again to the heart and arteries, thus
completing the circle, or circulation.
This wondrous stream ceaselessy circu-
lating. occupies the very centre OF the vital
organism, midway between the functions OF
nutrition and the functions of the eXertiOn,
feeding and stimulating the organs into actv-
ity, and removing from them all their useless
material. In its torrent, upward OF forty
different substances are hurried along it
carries gases, it carries salts-it even carries
metals and soups ! Millions of organized
cells float in its liquid and of these cells
which by some are consdred to be organic
entities, twenty millions are said to die at
every pulse of the heart, to be replaced by
other millions The iron which it washes on
wards can be separated Prof. Berard used
to eXhibit lump of it in his lecture-room-
nay, one ingenious Frenchman has suggested
that coins should be struck from the metal eX-
tractcd from the blood of great men. Let
no one suggest that we should wash our hands
with the soap extracted from a similar
source.
The blood instead of being red is of yell
lowish red color, and has, in solution, many
'iloating solids" known as blood diSces and
corpuscles. These were first discovered in
1858, but the first accurate knowledge of
them dates from 1878, and is due to Lewen-
burg. The corpu >clcs are not numerous in
healthy human blood, and play but a second
ary part,unless they arc the early stage of the
rcd disca.
The constituents of the blood are stated
t. be water; 794 parts out thousand albu-
men TO- and iibrine 2.20 The remaining ele-
ments are chiefly fat containing phosphorus,
chloride of potassium, eXide and phosphate of
iron with various other substances. The blood
of no two men is precisely similar in disease
to what it is in health or at different epochs
of life The iron which circulates in the veins
of the embryo is more abundant than the
iron in tie veins of the mother and this
again at puberty. The fats vary, in different
blood cells vary with the varying health -
The albumen fluctuates from 60 to 20 parts
in l00O the proportion being greater during
digestion. The fibrine, usually amounting to
about 3 in 1000, may arise as high as or
fall as low as l.
There are two descriptions Of blood in cir
culation in every human being-venOuS and
arterial blood, the former being dark purple,
the latter bright scarlet. If venous blood he
injected into the aterrcs going to the brain,it
produces syncope and death. Yet atrial
blood thus injected will revive an animal SUI
ferng from loss of blood Between the two
fluids, therefore, profound difference exists;
and yet the venous blood has only pass
through the lungs in an atmosphere not over
charged with carbonic acid, and at once it
becomes transformed into a nutrient sustain
ing fluid.
Arterial blood is everywhere the same -
1t is one stream perpetually flowing off into
smaller steams, but always the same fluid iE
its largest currents. Not so venous blood.
That is confluence of many currents, each
one bringing with it something from the soil
in which it arises {; the streams issuing out Of
the muscles bring substances unlike those is
suing out of the nervous centres !; the blood
which hurries ont of the intestines contains
substances unlike those which hurry oat of
the liver. The waste of all the organs has
to carried away by the vessels of the organs.
Wondrously does the complex machine work
lis many purposes : the roaring loom of Life
is never for moment still.
The amount of blood in the human frame
is variously stated. If we say ten pounds
for an adult healthy man, we shall probably
be as near the mark as possible. The guam
tity, however, necessarily varies in different
persons and seems from some calculations to
be greater in women than in man. In the
seal its quantity is enormous, surpass than of
all other animals, man included.
The Times Improving.