The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1858-09-30
THE BLOOD.

taius paper upon the life current Of tho
human system, emtodyiug many facts
which, however faniliar to anthropolo
gists, may be instructive to the common
mind. We quote some OF the most inter
csting statement. made by the author O
the contribution in question:
"The blood is described as torrent
impctuously rushing through every part
Of the body, carried by an elaborate net
twelve months, convey to the various tis
sues not less than three thousand pounds
weight of nutlitive material, and convey
from the various tissues not less than
1900 pounds waste. At every moment Of
our lives there are nearl ten pounds of this
fluid rushing in one continuous, throbbiDg g
stream, FROM the heart through the great
arteries, which branch aud branch, like
a tree, the vessels teco@ing smaller, as
they are subdivided, till they are invisi-
BILE to the naked eye, and then tt ey are
called capilaries (hair-like vessels,) al
though they are no more to be compared in
cslibra with hairs than bair- are with cattle.
These vessels form q network finer than
the finest !ace-so fuc indeed, that il We
pierce the surface at almost auy part
with the point of needle, We open one of
them and let out its blood. La these yes
sells the blood yields some of its nutri-
eut On aterial, aud receives in exchange
some of the wasted products OF tissue
Thus modified, the stream continues its
rspid course backward to the heart through
a system of veins, which commence in
myriad capiIaries that form the termina-
tion of arteries The veins, instead of
sub.idiug like the arteries, become grad
ualIy less numerous, their twiggs entering
branches. and the branches trunks. till
they reach the heart. No sooner has the
blood poured into the heart from the
veins, then it rushes through the lungs,
and from them back again to the heart
aud arteries, and thus CO co>npcting the cir
Gle or circulation.
This wouderous stream, ceaselessly cir
culating, occupies the very centre of vital
organism, midway between the functions
of nutrition aud the functions OF exertion,
feeding and stimulating the organs into
activity and removing from them all their
useless material. In its torrents upward
of forty different substances are carried
along; it carries gasse>, it salts-it even
carries metals aud soaps. Millions Of
organized cells float in its liquid; and OF
the cells, which by some are said to die
at every pulse of the heart, to be replaced
by other millions. The iron which it
washes onward can be separated. Pro-
fessor Bernard used to exhibit lump Of
il ia his lecture room, nay, one ingenious
Freuchman has suggested that veins
.hould be struck from the metal extracted
from the blood of great men. Let no one
sugcerttba at we should wash our hands with
the soap extI acted from a similar source
The blood instead of being red is of a
ycllowi.h red color, and has, in solution,
many floating Solids" known as blood
discs aud corpuscles. These we're first
discovered in 1858, but the first acurate
Knowledge of them dates from 1878, and
il due to Lewenburg. The corpuscles
are not nuDerousin healthy human blood,
aud play but a secondary part unless they
are the .tasc of the red disca.
The constituents of the blood are sta
ted to be water 764 parts out of thous
and; albumeu 40, and 6brine 2.20. The
tsmsining elements chiefly fat, contain
ing pho. .2horous, iron, With various other
sub,tauees. The blood of no two mea 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 embfyo is more abundant than the
iron in the veins of the mother; and this
quantity declines after birth, to augment
again at puberty. The fats vary in diff
ferent individuals from | "A to 3 in 900,
The cells vary with the varying health
The albumen Huctuates from 80 to 10
parts in ] ,OO0, the proportion being great
er during digestion. The 6brlne, usually
amounting to about in 900, may a.
rise to u, or fall as low as /.
There are two descriptions of blood In
circulation 10 every human beiDg-ven-
Gus and atrial blood, the former being
dark purple, and latter bright scarlet
If venomous blood be injected into the
arteries going to the brain, it produces
stucope and death. Yet arterial blood
thus injcted will revive an animal suffer-
ing from loss of blood. Between the two
fluids, therefore, profound difference
exists; and yet the venous blood has only
to pass through the lungs 10 q atmosphere
not overcbarged with carbonic acid, and
az once it becomes transformed into nu'
TRENT, sustaining flid'
Arterial blood is everywhere the same;
tits one stream a perpetually flowing OF
into smaller streams. but always the same
iu It's ninutcst ril as 10 its largest cur
rents Not so with yenous blood. That