Abstract
The total quantity of blood in the human body is a problem that has baffled men in medical science ever since Harvey's discovery of the circulation of the blood. It is a matter of no small importance in many diseased conditions, and in functional disorders in which no organic disease exists. In recent years, attempts have been made to estimate the quantity of blood; and perhaps a brief review of methods and results will be of interest. Welcker,1in 1854, devised the first method for estimating blood volume. He bled an animal, weighed the quantity of blood obtained, then washed out the blood vessels with water, and estimated the amount of hemoglobin in the washings. Gréhant,2in 1882, took a specimen of blood and calculated the percentage by volume of oxygen by extraction with a gas pump. The animal was made to breathe carbon monoxid gas for a

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