Experimental Hemorrhage

Abstract
In 1895 Starling1stated, "There are, however, certain facts which have been known to physiologists for the past 50 years and which, to my mind, prove conclusively the absorption by the blood vessels of the fluid in the connective tissue spaces. If an animal be bled to a certain amount, the remaining blood very shortly afterwards is found to be more dilute than before. It contains less hemoglobin and blood corpuscles and relatively more plasma. The plasma is also more dilute than before, showing that the increase in volume of blood chiefly consists of added water and salts, or at any rate, a fluid which contains less protein than the plasma." Adolph and Lepore2confirmed the occurrence of plasma dilution following acute hemorrhage and concluded it was primarily due to the fall in arterial pressure. Later Adolph, Gerbasi, and Lepore3bled animals rapidly (20 to 35 cc/kg