Studies on Blood Water

Abstract

In an attempt to determine more accurately the degree of dehydration of patients with definite fluid imbalance, particularly patients with Addison’s disease, an effort was made to find a rapid and simplified method of determining the total blood water. The method finally selected embodies the fundamental principles of many procedures described since the original work in 1845.

Venous blood was collected from the arm in routine fashion and 5 cc. were placed immediately into 8 cc. tightly stoppered glass flasks containing 0.1 cc. of a 20 per cent solution of potassium oxalate as the anticoagulant. Glass Petri dishes were layered with one-eighth to one-quarter inch of clean white sand and heated for four hours at a temperature between 96 and 102° C. These were allowed to return to room temperature in a desiccator. The sand was used to afford a larger surface area for the blood film, and to prevent any possible spattering.

The first series of fifty-nine determinations differed from the later work in only two respects: (1) 2 cc. volumetric pipettes were used, and (2) the Petri dish with sand was not weighed until after the addition of the blood sample. Obviously, this eliminated the possibility of expressing the results in this group in terms of per cent by weight. In the second group of determinations, eighty-four in all, Folin 2 cc. volumetric pipettes were used, after being recalibrated. All weights and volumes used in calculating the results are the corrected weights and volumes.

In all but the. . .