Unpublished paper, 'An experimental inquiry into the constitution of blood and the nutrition of muscular tissue' by William Marcet

Description

Marcet finds through a series of experiments that blood is strictly a colloid fluid, but despite this, it contains invariably a small proportion of diffusible constituents amounting to nearly 7.3g in 1000g of blood, and 9.25g in an equal volume of serum, these proportions diffusing out of blood in 24 hours. He finds that the proportion of chlorine contained in blood has a remarkable degree of fixity; that blood contains phosphoric anhydride and iron in a perfect colloid state; that blood contains more phosphoric anhydride and potash, bulk for bulk, than serum; that a mixture of colloid phosphoric anhydride and potash can be prepared artificially by the dialysis of a solution of potassium chloride and sodium phosphate, exhibiting an alkaline reaction; that by dialysing certain proportions of sodium phosphate and potassium chloride during a certain time, proportions of phosphoric anhydride, potash, chlorine, and soda are obtained in the colloid fluid very similar to the proportions these same substances bear to each other in serum after 24 hours dialysis; and that muscular tissue is formed of three different classes of substances.

Annotations in ink throughout. Marked on front as 'Archives Nov 2/71'.

Subject: Physiology

Received 1 April 1871. Read 11 May 1871.

Whilst the Royal Society declined to publish this paper in full, an abstract of the paper was published in volume 19 of the Proceedings of the Royal Society as 'An experimental inquiry into the constitution of blood and the nutrition of muscular tissue'.

Reference number

AP/53/5

Earliest possible date

1871

Physical description

Ink on paper

Page extent

73 pages

Format

Manuscript