THE SURFACE TENSION OF THE BLOOD PLASMA IN CHILDREN: VARIATIONS IN DISEASE, AND RELATION TO TIME DROP, SEDIMENTATION RATE AND VISCOSITY

NORMAL SURFACE TENSION AND VARIATIONS IN DISEASE  A considerable amount of work has been done to determine the surface tension of blood plasma and serum by three or four different methods. The actual results obtained by various authors are for the most part not comparable because of the variety of methods used and therefore the great variation in results. Du Noüy, using his surface tensiometer, has done a great deal of work to determine the time drop of blood serum, using dilutions of 1: 10,000 with special reference to antibody formation and immunization.Clausen,¹ using the drop weight method of Hawkins, found a slightly increased surface tension of the blood serum in glomerular nephritis, a decreased surface tension in parenchymatous nephritis and no decrease in cardiac edema. He also noted that eczema causes a slight lowering of surface tension.Leiter,² using the du Noüy surface tensiometer and