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Solution Manual for Internal Auditing Assurance
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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION TO INTERNAL AUDITING
Illustrative Solutions
Internal Auditing: Assurance and Consulting Services, 2
nd
Edition. © 2009 by The Institute of Internal Auditors
Research Foundation, 247 Maitland Avenue, Altamonte Springs, FL 32701 USA IS1-2
communication of business events and conditions as they affect and represent a given enterprise or
other entity. The task of accounting is to reduce a tremendous mass of detailed information to
manageable and understandable proportions. Auditing does none of these things. Auditing must
consider business events and conditions too, but it does not have the task of measuring or
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION TO INTERNAL AUDITING
Illustrative Solutions
Internal Auditing: Assurance and Consulting Services, 2
nd
Edition. © 2009 by The Institute of Internal Auditors
Research Foundation, 247 Maitland Avenue, Altamonte Springs, FL 32701 USA IS1-3
communicating them. Its task is to review the measurements and communications of accounting for
propriety. Auditing is analytical, not constructive; it is critical, investigative, concerned with the basis
for accounting measurements and assertions. Auditing emphasizes proof, the support for financial
statements and data. Thus auditing has its principal roots, not in accounting which it reviews, but in
logic on which it leans heavily for ideas and methods.” — Mautz and Sharaf, Philosophy of Auditing
9. The primary difference between internal financial reporting assurance services and external financial
reporting assurance services is the audience. Internal auditors provide financial reporting assurance
services primarily for the benefit of management and the board of directors. Independent outside
auditors provide financial reporting assurance services primarily for the benefit of third parties.
10. Factors that have fueled the dramatic increase in demand for internal audit services over the past 30
years include globalization, increasingly complex corporate structures, e-commerce and other
technological advances, and a global economic downturn.
11. The types of procedures an internal auditor might use to test the design adequacy and operating
effectiveness of governance, risk management, and control processes include:
• Inquiring of managers and employees.
• Observing activities.
• Inspecting resources and documents.
• Reperforming control activities.
• Performing trend and ratio analysis.
• Performing data analysis using computer-assisted audit techniques.
• Gathering corroborating information from independent third parties.
• Performing direct tests of events and transactions.
12. Cosourcing means that an organization is supplementing its in-house internal audit function to some
extent via the services of third-party vendors. Common situations in which an organization will
cosource its internal audit function include circumstances in which the third-party vendor has
specialized audit knowledge and skills that the organization does not have in-house and circumstances
in which the organization has insufficient in-house internal audit resources to fully complete its
planned engagements.
13. The IIA’s official motto is “Progress Through Sharing.”
14. The IIA headquarters leadership team includes the president and CEO and the chief staff officers over
global operations, North American operations, and shared services. Hundreds of volunteers also
provide IIA leadership. These leaders include the 38-member IIA Board of Directors, international
committees, district representatives, and officers and board members of the various national institutes.
15. The two categories of guidance included in the International Professional Practices Framework
(IPPF) are mandatory guidance, which includes the Definition of Internal Auditing, the Code of
Ethics, and the International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing
(Standards), and strongly recommended guidance, which includes Practice Advisories, Position
Papers, and Practice Guides.
16. The Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) exam tests a candidate’s expertise in four parts:
• The Internal Audit Activity’s Role in Governance, Risk, and Control.
• Conducting the Internal Audit Engagement.
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION TO INTERNAL AUDITING
Illustrative Solutions
Internal Auditing: Assurance and Consulting Services, 2
nd
Edition. © 2009 by The Institute of Internal Auditors
Research Foundation, 247 Maitland Avenue, Altamonte Springs, FL 32701 USA IS1-4
• Business Analysis and Information Technology.
• Business Management Skills.
17. The Institute of Internal Auditors Research Foundation’s (IIARF’s) major objective is “to support
research and education in internal auditing, thereby enhancing the development of the internal audit
profession.”
18. Inherent personal qualities that are common among successful internal auditors include integrity,
passion, work ethic, curiosity, creativity, initiative, and flexibility.
19. Internal auditors must have integrity because the users of their work products rely on the internal
auditors’ professional judgments to make important business decisions. These stakeholders must have
confidence that internal auditors are trustworthy.
20. The four areas are interpersonal skills, tools and techniques, internal audit standards, theory, and
methodology, and knowledge areas.
21. Many individuals now enter the internal audit profession directly out of school. Others switch to
internal auditing after beginning their careers in another area of the organization or in public
accounting. Some organizations require prospective managers to spend time working in internal
auditing as part of their management trainee program.
22. Most people who work in internal auditing do not spend their entire careers there. They instead use
internal auditing as a stepping stone into financial or nonfinancial management positions, either in the
organizations they have been working for or in other organizations.
23. Options that an individual has if he or she chooses to be a career internal auditor include progressing
upward through the ranks of a single organization’s internal audit function into internal audit
management, advancing up the ladder by moving from one organization to another, or moving
upward through the various levels in a firm that provides internal assurance and consulting services to
other organizations.
Multiple-choice Questions
1. A is the best answer. This answer is most closely aligned with The IIA’s definition of internal
auditing. Per the definition, internal auditing comprises assurance and consulting activities and is
designed to add value and improve an organization’s operations. The other answers may represent
appropriate activities for an internal audit function, but they do not represent its overall responsibility.
2. D is the best answer. An organization’s strategy, not its objectives, is management’s means of
employing resources and assigning responsibilities. It defines how management plans to achieve the
organization’s objectives.
3. A is the best answer. Assurance services are defined in the glossary to the Standards as “an objective
examination of evidence for the purpose of providing an independent assessment on governance, risk
management, or control processes for the organization. Examples may include financial, performance,
compliance, system security, and due diligence engagements.”
4. C is the best answer. Project management skills are important, but according to The IIA’s Internal
Auditor Competency Framework, this attribute falls in the Tools and Techniques competency
category. The other three are all part of the Interpersonal Skills competency category.
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION TO INTERNAL AUDITING
Illustrative Solutions
Internal Auditing: Assurance and Consulting Services, 2
nd
Edition. © 2009 by The Institute of Internal Auditors
Research Foundation, 247 Maitland Avenue, Altamonte Springs, FL 32701 USA IS1-5
5. B is the best answer. Internal auditors need to develop an understanding of the auditee’s objectives
and risks during the planning stages of an engagement. The internal auditor will use the auditee’s
business objectives, together with the risks that threaten those objectives, as a framework for defining
the desired outcomes of the engagement. The other answers may be part of an assurance engagement,
but understanding the auditee would not be sufficient for the internal auditors to meet these
objectives.
Discussion Questions
1. Objectives define what an individual or organization wants to achieve. Strategies define how
individuals or organizations plan to achieve their objectives.
A common objective expressed by students is to achieve a good grade. Some students indicate that
they want to learn. These responses open the door for the instructor to discuss the relationship
between objectives and key performance indicators. If the instructor’s grading criteria are aligned
with his or her student learning objectives, the grades students earn in the course should reflect their
levels of learning.
An appropriate strategy for learning and achieving a good grade in a course includes:
• Obtaining a clear understanding of the instructor’s expectations and grading criteria.
• Attending all class sessions.
• Actively participating in class discussions.
• Completing all assignments on a timely basis.
• Studying diligently throughout the semester instead of just before exams.
• Communicating with the instructor in a timely manner if problems are encountered.
2. The student’s objective is to get to her 8:00 a.m. class on time. Students may encounter several
different risks that threaten this objective and the corresponding controls that can be implemented to
mitigate these risks. Simple examples of risks and controls include:
Risks
Oversleeping
Controls
• Getting to bed at a reasonable time
• Setting an alarm clock
Missing the bus •
•
•
Packing books and supplies before going to bed
Planning in advance the activities that must be
completed in the morning before leaving the house
Allowing sufficient time to walk to the bus stop
3. The point to this question is that monitoring activities such as trend analysis are most effective when
observed performance is compared with predetermined expectations. It would be reasonable for the
owner of the flower shops to expect sales to be higher in certain months, for example in February
because of Valentine’s Day and in March or April, depending on when Easter occurs. Accordingly,
the fact that monthly sales remained relatively consistent at the one shop over the six-month period
should be reason for concern, especially if the sales performance at this shop was inconsistent with
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION TO INTERNAL AUDITING
Illustrative Solutions
Internal Auditing: Assurance and Consulting Services, 2
nd
Edition. © 2009 by The Institute of Internal Auditors
Research Foundation, 247 Maitland Avenue, Altamonte Springs, FL 32701 USA IS1-6
the sales performance at the other four shops. This question also illustrates the value of internal
benchmarking, that is, the comparison of performance among comparable business units.
4. a. Inherent personal qualities common among successful internal auditors include, for example:
• Integrity.
• Passion.
• Work ethic.
• Curiosity.
• Creativity.
• Initiative.
• Flexibility.
• Competitiveness.
• Commitment to excellence.
• Inquisitiveness.
• Confidence.
• Professionalism.
b. The knowledge and skills entry-level internal auditors are expected to possess include, for
example:
• Knowledge of internal auditing and audit-related subjects such as accounting, management,
and information technology.
• Understanding the concepts of business objectives, risks, and controls.
• Hands-on working knowledge of audit-related software such as flowcharting software and
generalized audit software.
• Oral and written communication skills.
• Analytical, problem-solving skills.
Credentials that entry-level internal auditors are expected to possess include, for example:
• A good GPA.
• Scholarships.
• An internship or other relevant work experience.
• Active involvement in a student organization such as an IIA student chapter or a business
fraternity.
• Although not yet common, completion of one or more parts of the CIA exam by students
before they graduate is rising.
c. Additional knowledge and skills in-charge internal auditors might be expected to possess include,
for example:
• An in-depth knowledge of the organization and its industry.
• Specialized subject matter expertise in more than one area such as accounting, technology,
emerging regulations, enterprise risk management, or control self-assessment.
• Communicating effectively and building rapport with management.
• Coaching subordinates and sharing expertise.
• Making presentations to and facilitating meetings of management personnel.
Credentials in-charge internal auditors are expected to possess include, for example:
• Professional certification such as a CIA, Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Chartered
Accountant (CA), or Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA).
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION TO INTERNAL AUDITING
Illustrative Solutions
Internal Auditing: Assurance and Consulting Services, 2
nd
Edition. © 2009 by The Institute of Internal Auditors
Research Foundation, 247 Maitland Avenue, Altamonte Springs, FL 32701 USA IS1-7
• A developing track record of successfully leading engagements that is reflected in positive
performance evaluations and complimentary feedback from service recipients.
Additional knowledge and skills chief audit executives (CAEs) might be expected to possess include,
for example:
• Deep expertise in governance, risk management, and control.
• Commanding respect among senior executives.
• Thinking strategically and stimulating change within the organization.
• Building and sustaining an internal audit function that adds value to the organization.
Credentials internal audit executives are expected to possess include, for example:
• A history of successful professional advancement and leadership.
• A reputation inside and outside the organization as a thought leader in governance, risk
management, and control.
Case
The purpose of this case is twofold: (1) to expose students to The IIA’s website and (2) to have the
students study pertinent information about the internal audit profession. Individual instructors should
customize the assignment to align it with their specific goals. As of the date this textbook was published,
the web addresses for the two questions can be found at the following links. Instructors should check
these links in advance to ensure they still contain the information requested in the case, and modify the
case as necessary should the information on the website change.
1. http://www.theiia.org/theiia/about-the-profession/faqs/
2. http://www.theiia.org/certification/certified-internal-auditor/cia-exam-content/
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Red blood-corpuscles, properly so called, are found only in
vertebrate animals, although invertebrate animals, from worms
upwards, possess genuine blood, and in some of them it contains
hæmoglobin, or a similar pigment in the form of globules. These
might be likened to the non-nucleated corpuscles of mammals, but it
must be remembered that the non-nucleated cells of mammals have
been evolved from the nucleated blood-corpuscles of birds, reptiles,
amphibians, and fishes. Below fishes red blood-cells are not found.
Hæmoglobin is usually dissolved in the blood of invertebrate
animals. It is impossible to trace any relationship between the
coloured globules of invertebrates and the blood-cells of fishes. The
coloured globules must be regarded as deposits or accretions of
hæmoglobin held together by a proteid substance.
The nucleated red corpuscles of submammalian vertebrates
multiply by cell division while circulating in the blood-stream. A good
subject in which to look for dividing corpuscles is the blood of a newt
in spring-time, when rapidly increasing activity calls for an additional
supply. There is nothing to distinguish the method of division of a
nucleated blood-corpuscle from that of any other cell.
The life-story of the red blood-corpuscles of mammals is one of
the most fascinating that the histologist has to tell. He wishes that
he could tell it with assurance; but, unfortunately, there are many
uncertainties, due to conflicting testimony, in its earlier chapters. It
is unlikely that a blood-corpuscle lives for long. A month or six weeks
is probably the term of its existence. The rapidity with which the
stock is replenished after bleeding shows that there must be ample
provision in the body for making blood-corpuscles. The rate at which
they disappear after they have been added in excess shows that
there is an equally effective mechanism for destroying them. If half
as many again as the animal already possesses be injected into its
veins, the number is reduced to its normal limit in about ten days. It
is clear that they can be made and can be destroyed with great
facility, and it seems a legitimate inference that production and
destruction are constantly taking place. Regarding the way in which
they are destroyed there is no uncertainty. We shall refer to this
subject when describing the functions of the spleen. But how are
they made? We can sketch their history in outline, but the evidence
is conflicting with regard to all matters of detail.
In early stages of embryonic life all red blood-corpuscles are
nucleated, as they are permanently in birds and the other classes of
vertebrates below mammals. In embryonic mammals they multiply
by division whilst circulating in the blood, just as in the newt. But it
is generally believed that this is not the most important source of
new ones. During the earliest stages of growth they are being
formed in enormous numbers. Such instances of division as can be
seen in circulating blood appear to be all too infrequent to account
for their rapid multiplication, and there can be no doubt but that a
more complicated method of production is more important. Their
formation is described as taking place “endogenously.” Certain cells
termed “vaso-formative,” or “vaso-sanguiformative,” reach a
considerable size, and become stellate in form, or branched. Their
nuclei divide without the cell dividing. Each nucleus accumulates a
little hæmoglobin round it. A space filled with fluid appears inside
the cell. The nuclei project into this space. Then they drop off with
their envelopes of hæmoglobin. The outer shell of the big vaso-
formative cell becomes the wall of a capillary bloodvessel. By its
branches it links up with other vaso-formative cells, making a
network of vessels. The fluid inside it is the plasma of the blood. The
nuclei and their envelopes are blood-corpuscles. This, if it be a true
story, is a comprehensive way of making bloodvessels and blood at
the same time. Doubts have been thrown upon its accuracy, but
many leading histologists strenuously maintain that this description
is correct.
At a certain period all nucleated red corpuscles disappear from
mammalian blood. Non-nucleated corpuscles take their place. How
are the latter formed? For a short stage of embryonic life nucleated
cells containing blood-pigment are seen, or are supposed to be seen,
in the liver—there is, unfortunately, great difficulty in distinguishing
them with certainty from young liver-cells; later they are seen in the
spleen; throughout the whole of life they are to be seen in the
marrow of bone. The nucleated cells give origin to the non-nucleated
corpuscles. It is hardly legitimate to call these cells persistent
embryonic corpuscles. Yet the chain which connects the cells which
in the embryo are capable of dividing into pairs of nucleated red
blood-corpuscles, and the cells which, assuming the rôle of parent
cells, do not accumulate hæmoglobin for their own purposes, but for
the benefit of the red corpuscles which split off from them, is
probably unbroken. In this sense they are persistent embryonic
corpuscles which have deserted the blood-stream, and have taken
shelter in certain tissues which are particularly favourable for cell
division. The situations in which they hide themselves are singularly
suggestive. In the liver there is an abundant supply of nutriment,
more abundant than in any other part of the body of the embryo.
Later, in the spleen, red blood-corpuscles are being destroyed.
Materials available for making new ones must therefore be set free.
The inside of a hollow bone is a peculiarly sheltered situation. The
fat cells of marrow accumulate there after a time; but within some
bones the marrow develops very little fat; hence it shows the red
colour, which is due to its abundant bloodvessels. This “red marrow”
is the most important seat of the manufacture of red blood-
corpuscles in adult life. Unfortunately, when we try to answer the
question, How are they formed? we are obliged to speak with
caution. Some histologists assert that the nucleated cells divide, and
that one of the two daughter cells accumulates hæmoglobin, and
loses—that is to say, extrudes—its nucleus. Others maintain that the
nucleated cells become irregular in form; that hæmoglobin
accumulates in the projecting portion of the cell; that this projecting
portion breaks off as a non-nucleated corpuscle. It would be
indiscreet at the present time to pronounce in favour of either of
these reports, although the decision is of theoretical importance. If
the former account be true, red blood-corpuscles are nucleated
blood-cells which have lost their nuclei. If the latter account be in
accordance with fact, it is hardly justifiable to regard them as cells.
They are parts of cells which finish their existence independently of
the cell body and nucleus to which they belong. As circumstantial
evidence, favouring the theory that cell division is normal and the
nucleus subsequently lost, may be pleaded the existence in marrow,
and also in the embryonic liver and spleen, of certain very peculiar
cells. These cells have long been known as giant cells, and all
attempts at accounting for them have broken down. They are
relatively of immense size: their diameter may be twenty times as
great as that of a red blood-corpuscle. Each contains a huge
irregular, bulging nucleus. Hence the cells are termed
“megacaryocytes” (big-nucleus cells). They must not be confounded
with the polycaryocytes (cells with several nuclei), which eat up
degrading bone, although it must be confessed that megacaryocytes
and polycaryocytes appear to be genetically connected. It is
supposed that megacaryocytes consume the nuclei which red
corpuscles extrude during the process of their conversion from
nucleated cells. Traces of nuclei, or things which often look like
nuclei, are found in their body-substance. Their own overgrown
misformed nuclei appear to be the result of an excess of nuclear
food. It is certainly remarkable that megacaryocytes are not found
below mammals. They do not occur in any animal in which red
blood-corpuscles retain their nuclei. Polycaryocytes are found in
numbers in the bones of growing birds. They are evidently scooping
out bone from situations in which it has to be displaced in order that
the shape of the bone as a whole may be changed. But there are no
megacaryocytes in birds. On the other hand, megacaryocytes are
present in the liver, and later in the spleen, of mammals at the
periods when blood-formation is occurring most actively in these
organs. From the liver they disappear early. In most mammals they
disappear from the spleen about the time of birth; but in some—the
hedgehog, for example—they are found in the spleen throughout the
whole of life.
Hæmoglobin is a substance which has the property of uniting
with oxygen to form oxyhæmoglobin—a compound from which the
oxygen is, again, very readily withdrawn. It is extremely soluble, but
may be made to crystallize by adding alcohol to blood, after setting
the hæmoglobin free from the corpuscles by freezing and thawing.
From the blood of Man and most other animals it crystallizes in the
form of rhombic prisms, whether in the oxidized (oxyhæmoglobin) or
non-oxidized condition. The addition of oxygen does not affect its
crystalline form; although crystalline, it is absolutely non-diffusible.
This is due to the great size of its molecule, which is probably larger
than that of any other substance which is capable of crystallizing.
The percentage composition of hæmoglobin conforms closely
with that of albumin and other proteins, with this most important
difference: it contains a definite proportion of iron—0·336 per cent.
That the percentage of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulphur, and
oxygen should agree with that commonly found in proteins is
inevitable, since it may be split into a part which contains all the
iron, hæmatin, and a proteid part resembling albumin; and the latter
constitutes 96 per cent. of its weight.
There is no doubt but that its value as a vehicle of oxygen
depends upon the presence of iron. In the matter of taking up and
dropping oxygen, hæmatin behaves somewhat in the same manner
as hæmoglobin; whereas if iron be removed from hæmatin the
“iron-free hæmatin” loses its respiratory value. It is almost certain
that a molecule of hæmoglobin contains a single atom of iron. On
this supposition its molecular formula may be calculated. It is not
quite the same for all animals, although the variations are slight. For
the blood of the horse it is as follows:
C₇₁₂H₁₁₃₀N₂₁₄S₂FeO₂₄₅.
This means a molecular weight of 16708. We give the figures,
because the properties of hæmoglobin will be better understood if
its prodigious molecular weight is borne in mind. In a sense, the
reason for the great size of its molecule is not far to seek. The
atomic weight of iron (Fe = 56) is much greater than that of either
of the other elements contained in hæmoglobin. The molecule needs
to be very great to float an atom of iron. As it is, the corpuscles are
heavier than the plasma which surrounds them, in the proportion of
about 13 to 12. Although hæmoglobin is a crystallizable substance,
its immense molecule is absolutely non-diffusible. It cannot pass
through a membrane. This is of no consequence as regards the
relation of hæmoglobin to the walls of the capillary bloodvessels,
since it is contained in corpuscles; but it is of great importance as
regards its relation to the discs which carry it. A very small quantity
of enveloping substance suffices to prevent it from diffusing into the
plasma of the blood. The great molecules are held together and
isolated from the fluid in which they float by a minimal amount of
insoluble globin.
The iron needed for the making of hæmoglobin is obtained both
from meat and vegetables. The constituents of an ordinary diet
provide from 2 to 3 centigrammes of iron a day. The whole of the
blood contains about 4·5 grammes. When corpuscles are being
destroyed in the spleen, the iron which their pigment contains is
largely reabsorbed and rendered available for further use. The iron
in a mixed diet is more than sufficient to counterbalance any loss.
Milk contains extremely little iron. Before birth the liver and spleen
accumulate a store of iron which lasts until the end of the nursing
period, unless this be unduly prolonged. If it be prolonged, the child
is apt to become anæmic. Iron has been administered in the
treatment of anæmia ever since its presence in the red clot of blood
was recognized a hundred and fifty years ago. Physicians are agreed
that in the anæmia of young people it is of value; but observations
made with a view to obtaining definite data as to the increase in
number of blood-corpuscles which results from the administration of
iron, without any other alteration in the diet or the habits of the
patient, have not given accordant results. Some observers have
obtained an increase with organic compounds of iron, others with
inorganic compounds; some are in favour of small doses, others of
very large ones. As in the treatment by drugs of other abnormal
conditions, it is difficult to isolate the effect of the drug from the
effects of improvements in the general regimen. Yet physicians agree
that iron accentuates the beneficial effects of fresh air and improved
diet.
When the surface of the body is struck, the effect of the blow is
marked at first by redness. There is nothing to show that small
bloodvessels have been ruptured and blood effused beneath the
skin. Next day the injured area is reddish-purple. The bruise turns
blue, green, yellow, and eventually disappears. In the process of
absorption, oxyhæmoglobin undergoes decomposition. First its
proteid constituent is removed, leaving a coloured pigment
containing iron, termed “hæmatin”; soon reduced by loss of oxygen
to hæmochromogen. When Sir George Stokes first described the
spectrum of blood (cf. p. 185), he showed that as hæmoglobin may
exist in an oxidized and in a non-oxidized condition, distinguished by
their spectra, so also may the coloured residue which is left after the
proteid constituent has been removed from hæmoglobin. This
coloured residue he termed, when oxidized, “hæmatin”; when not
oxidized, “reduced hæmatin.” Stokes’s reduced hæmatin is now
termed “hæmochromogen.” Hæmochromogen stands for the
coloured nucleus of hæmoglobin. Although it is not present in
hæmoglobin as hæmochromogen—hence we must not speak of
hæmoglobin as made of a protein, x, plus hæmochromogen, y—it is
to its coloured residue that hæmoglobin owes its value as a carrier
of oxygen. Later, iron is removed from hæmochromogen, leaving
hæmatoidin, a substance often found at the seat of old
hæmorrhages, where it may remain unchanged for a very long time.
Hæmatoidin is apparently identical with the yellow pigment of bile,
bilirubin. The green colour which shows itself in the bruise seems to
indicate that the more oxidized bile-pigment, biliverdin, is formed in
the first instance. Red corpuscles, when destroyed in the spleen,
pass through transformations similar to those which blood
undergoes when effused beneath the skin. Their protein is used by
the phagocytes which eat them. Their iron is reserved for the use of
the blood-forming cells of the red marrow of bone. The pigment
which remains as the residue of hæmoglobin is carried by the
splenic vein to the liver, which secretes it as bile-pigment. So much
of the bile-pigment as is reabsorbed by the wall of the alimentary
canal is eventually excreted as the pigment of urine.
Such is the history of the changes which blood-pigment
undergoes within the living body. To a certain extent its chemistry
can be followed in the laboratory; but it must be remembered, when
we are treating of the chemistry of a substance as complex as
hæmoglobin, that the products which can be obtained from it in the
laboratory are not necessarily those into which it is transformed in
the body. In the laboratory oxyhæmoglobin is easily changed into
methæmoglobin, a substance of the same percentage composition,
but with its oxygen more firmly fixed. Methæmoglobin can be
decomposed into a proteid substance and hæmatin. Hæmatin, when
acted on by reducing agents, becomes hæmochromogen.
Hæmochromogen, when subjected to such a reducing agent as a
mixture of tin and hydrochloric acid, gives rise to coloured bodies
closely resembling bile-pigments—not as they are secreted by the
bile, but as they appear in the urine. It is impossible to prove that
the changing colours of a bruise indicate a sequence of chemical
transformations from hæmoglobin to bile-pigment, but it is not
improbable that such a description is correct. The test commonly
used to ascertain the presence of bile-pigment, i.e., bilirubin, is the
play of colours which it exhibits when oxidized by fuming nitric acid.
From yellow it turns to green, to blue, and then to purple, more or
less reversing the colours of the bruise. It is fairly certain that
effused blood undergoes changes along lines which, if not identical
with those through which blood passes on its road to bile-pigment,
are at any rate very similar.
Coagulation of Lymph and Blood.—Two or three minutes
after blood has been shed it begins to clot. In ten minutes the vessel
into which it has been received may be inverted without spilling the
blood. After a time the jelly, holding all the corpuscles, shrinks from
the sides of the jar. It squeezes out a transparent, straw-coloured
fluid—serum. The clot continues to contract until, in a few hours,
about one-half of the weight of the blood is clot, the other half
serum. Lymph coagulates like blood, but most specimens clot more
slowly, and the product is less firm.
When the process is watched through the microscope—a few
drops of the almost colourless, transparent blood of a lobster afford
an excellent opportunity of studying the formation of the clot—
innumerable filaments of the most delicate description are seen to
shoot out from many centres. They multiply until they constitute a
felt-work. In the case of blood obtained from a vertebrate animal,
this felt-work holds the corpuscles in its meshes. Its filaments exhibit
a remarkable tendency to contract. They shorten as much as the
enclosed corpuscles allow.
The filaments may be prevented from entangling the corpuscles
by whipping the blood, from the instant that it is shed, with a bundle
of twigs or wires. The fibrin collects on the wires, while the
corpuscles remain in the serum. If this fibrin is washed in running
water until all adherent serum and corpuscles are removed, it
appears as a soft white stringy substance which, when dried,
resembles isinglass.
Clotting is a protection against hæmorrhage. As it oozes from a
scratch or tiny wound, blood clots, forming a natural plaster which
prevents continued bleeding. It has little if any influence in resisting
a strongly flowing stream of blood. But a clean cut through a large
vessel is an accident which rarely happens as the result of natural
causes. It is not the kind of injury to which animals are liable. When
an artery is severed by a blunt instrument, the muscle-fibres of its
wall contract. They occlude the vessel. The blood clots at the place
where the vessel is injured, and plugs it. This happens also when a
surgeon ties an artery. He is careful to pull the ligature sufficiently
tight to crush its wall. His sensitive fingers feel it give. He stops
before the thread has cut it through. As will be explained later, the
clotting of blood is promoted by contact with injured tissue. If in
tying an artery its wall be not crushed, the blood in it may remain
liquid. When it is skilfully tied, the blood clots, forming a firm plug
which is practically a part of the artery, by the time that the silk
thread used in tying it is thrown out, owing to the death of the ring
of tissue which it compressed. After a tooth has been extracted, the
cavity is closed and further bleeding stopped by clotted blood.
When large vessels have been severed, the copious hæmorrhage
which follows induces fainting. For a short time the heart stops, or
beats very feebly. The blood-pressure falls. The bloodvessels
contract. A clot has time to form. An emotional tendency to faint at
the sight of blood is a provision for giving the various causes which
stop bleeding an opportunity of coming into play. It is a useful reflex
action, always supposing that the person who is liable to it faints at
the sight of his own blood. Amongst other reasons for the greater
fortitude of women—they are far less subject to this emotional reflex
than men—might be alleged the circumstances of life of primitive
people. It was the part of their women-folk to dress wounds, not to
receive them.
The phenomenon of coagulation has attracted attention from the
earliest times. It was a phenomenon that needed explanation, and
culinary experience suggested analogies close at hand. Hippocrates
attributed the clotting of blood to its coming to rest and growing
cold. The blood which gushed from a warrior’s wound formed a still
pool by his side. It set into a jelly as it cooled. Until the second
quarter of the nineteenth century this theory was deemed sufficient.
It then occurred to two men of inquiring mind to institute control
experiments. John Davy placed a dish of blood upon the hob.
William Hunter kept one shaking. In both experiments the blood
clotted more quickly than it did in vessels of the same size,
containing the same amount of the same blood, left upon the table.
Even before this date an observation had been made regarding
the circumstances in which clotting occurs, which has thrown much
light upon the causes of the phenomenon. In 1772 Hewson gently
tied a vein in two places. At the end of a couple of hours he opened
the vein. The blood was still liquid, but clotted in a normal manner
after it was shed. Scudamore showed that blood clots more slowly in
a closed than in an open flask. A new theory, as little trustworthy as
Hippocrates’, was based upon these observations. Blood clotted
because it was exposed to air. A record of all observations of the
circumstances of coagulation, and of all the theories to which they
have given rise, would make an exceptionally interesting chapter in
the history of human thought. It would bring into singular
prominence stages in the development of what is now known as the
“scientific method.” Not that Science has a method of her own.
Philosophers of all classes would follow the same method if their
data allowed of its application. The peculiarity of the data with which
Science deals is that they can be brought to a test of which the data
of historical, or political, or economic theory are not susceptible.
They can be confronted with control experiments. The control
experiment is the alphabet and the syntax of the scientific method.
No hypothesis is admissible into the pyramid of theory until it has
passed this test. A natural phenomenon is observed. Every
measurement which is applicable is taken and recorded—time,
weight, temperature, colour. Scientific observation implies the
tabulation of all particulars which are capable of statistical
expression. Reflecting upon the relation of the phenomenon to other
phenomena of a like nature, the philosopher—it is the philosophy of
physiologists which interests us—formulates an hypothesis as to its
cause. At this point the real difficulty of applying the scientific
method begins. It is easy to formulate hypotheses. It is very difficult
to devise control experiments. An experiment must be arranged
which will provide that, while all other conditions in which the
phenomenon has been observed to occur are reproduced, the
condition which was ex hypothesi its cause shall be omitted. This
digression into the philosophy of science may seem to be somewhat
remote from our line of march, but it may perhaps hasten our
progress in the comprehension of the story of physiology. There is
no other science in which the control experiment plays an equally
important part. Unless this is realized, the whole trend of
experimental work will be misunderstood. Scudamore explained
coagulation as due to contact with air. Based on the observations we
have cited, no hypothesis could have seemed more reasonable. With
a view to checking this hypothesis, blood was received into a tube of
mercury. It coagulated in the Torricellian vacuum. Scudamore’s
hypothesis, like many earlier and later, when confronted with a
control experiment, was turned away, ashamed.
Clotting is a property of plasma. Red corpuscles play no part in
the process. Coagulation does not occur in a living healthy vessel. It
occurs when the vessel, and especially when its inner coat, is
injured. It is hastened by contact with wounded tissues, especially
with wounded skin. Contact with a foreign body also starts
coagulation. If a silk thread is drawn through a bloodvessel, from
side to side, fibrin filaments shoot out from the thread, as well as
from the wound inflicted on the vessel by the needle which was used
to draw it through.
Plasma contains a substance which sets into fibrin. It has been
termed “fibrinogen.” It is present in lymph, and in almost all forms of
exuded lymph. If sodium chloride (common salt) is added to plasma
until it is half saturated—until it has dissolved half as much as the
maximum quantity which it can dissolve—fibrinogen is thrown down
as a flocculent precipitate. It can be redissolved and reprecipitated
until it is pure. When fibrinogen was separated from plasma a step
was taken towards the explanation of coagulation. Under certain
conditions fibrinogen sets into fibrin. The question which then
presented itself for solution was as follows: What is the substance
which, by acting upon or combining with fibrinogen, converts it into
fibrin? The clue to the solution of this question was obtained from
the consideration of certain observations made by Andrew Buchanan
in 1830, but long neglected, because their significance was not
understood. Buchanan had observed that some specimens of lymph
exuded into a lymph-space—the peritoneal cavity, for example—will
clot; others will not. He noticed that they clot when, owing to
puncture of a small bloodvessel during the process of drawing them
off, they are tinged with blood. Determined to ascertain which of the
constituents of blood is effective in rendering non-coagulable
effusions capable of clotting, he added to them in turn red blood-
corpuscles, serum, and the washings of blood clot. Either of the two
latter was found to contain the clot-provoking substance. Thirty
years later a German physiologist prepared fibrinogen from effused
lymph by precipitating it with salt. He also treated serum in a similar
way, precipitating a protein which he termed fibrinoplastin. When
these two substances were dissolved and the solutions mixed, he
obtained a clot, which he regarded as a compound of fibrinogen and
fibrinoplastin. Subsequently he found that the mixture did not always
clot, but he discovered that if he coagulated blood with alcohol, and
washed this residue, the washings added to the mixed solution just
referred to invariably produced a clot. Thinking that the substance
which he obtained from his alcohol-coagulated blood could not be
proteid, he termed it “fibrin-ferment.” He neglected the control
experiment. He failed to ascertain whether or not all three
substances were needed. Had he tried adding fibrin-ferment to
fibrinogen, he would have discovered that the further addition of
fibrinoplastin was unnecessary. He did not ascertain, as he might
have done, that the weight of fibrin formed is somewhat less, not
greater, than the weight of fibrinogen used. (Fibrinogen gives off a
certain quantity of globulin when it changes into fibrin.) He was also
wrong in supposing that the water which he added to alcohol-
coagulated blood dissolved no protein. His “fibrin-ferment” is always
associated with a protein. Since it may also be obtained from
lymphatic glands, thymus gland, and other tissues which contain
lymphocytes, it has been inferred that it is itself a protein, of the
class known as nucleo-proteins. The fact that it is destroyed at so
low a temperature as 55° C. has been supposed to confirm the
theory that it is a protein. But with regard to the chemical nature of
fibrin-ferment, as of all other ferments, we are at present in the
dark. Under ordinary circumstances, when blood clots, the fibrin-
ferment, or plasmase, or thrombin—it has received various names—
is set free by leucocytes. Fluids which contain fibrinogen clot on the
addition of a “ferment” which is either secreted by leucocytes or set
free from leucocytes when they break up—as they are very apt to
do, as soon as the conditions upon which their health depends are
interfered with.
Freshly shed blood contains minute particles, termed “platelets,”
in diameter measuring about a quarter that of a red blood-corpuscle.
When the inner coat of a vessel is injured, platelets accumulate at
the injured spot. They form a little white heap, from which
coagulation starts. Evidently they supply the ferment, or a precursor
of the ferment. As yet their origin has not been traced. They are too
large to be the unchanged granules of granular leucocytes, but that
they are in some way derived from leucocytes seems probable.
The further study of coagulation has shown that the conditions
under which it occurs are more complicated than the simple
explanation just given would seem to imply. This explanation holds
good, so far as it goes, but facts connected with the details of the
process have recently been brought to light which warn the
physiologist that as yet his theory of coagulation is incomplete.
The presence of salts of lime has an important relation to
coagulation. If blood is received into a vessel in which has been
placed some powdered oxalate of potash, or soap, or any other
chemical which fixes lime, the blood does not coagulate. All other
conditions are as usual, but lime is withdrawn from the plasma. The
non-coagulation of oxalated plasma was interpreted as indicating
that lime, under the influence of fibrin-ferment, combines with
fibrinogen to form fibrin; that fibrinogen altered by fibrin-ferment
combines with lime. This hypothesis was based upon the analogy of
the curdling of milk. Milk cannot curdle if lime be absent. If rennin
(milk-ferment), prepared from milk from which lime has been
removed, be added to a solution of caseinogen (the coagulable
protein of milk), also prepared from lime-free milk, no curd is
produced. The addition of a few drops of a solution of chloride of
lime results in the immediate curdling of the mixture. Evidently
rennin so alters caseinogen as to bring it into a condition to combine
with lime. But the analogy does not hold good for blood. In the case
of plasma, lime acts, not upon fibrinogen, but upon the fibrin-
ferment—or rather upon a precursor of fibrin-ferment—in such a way
as to render it effective. Leucocytes produce a prothrombin, which in
contact with lime salts is converted into thrombin, which coagulates
fibrinogen.
Fibrinogen is the substance which fibrin-ferment combined with
salts of lime changes into fibrin. Yet even now the story is not
complete, if the theory of coagulation is to be brought up to date. A
perfectly clean cannula is passed into an artery of a bird. If it be
thrust well beyond the place where the vessel has been cut, if the
vessel be tied so gently as to avoid injury to its inner coat, and if the
blood which first passes through the cannula be allowed to escape,
the blood subsequently collected will not clot. It contains fibrinogen,
lime salts, and fibrin-ferment, ordinarily so called; but the ferment is
ineffective. The addition to the blood of a fragment of injured tissue,
or of a watery extract of almost any tissue, immediately sets up
coagulation. This observation brings fibrin-ferment into line with
other ferments. Digestive ferments are secreted as zymogens, which
require to be influenced by a kinase before they acquire
fermentative activity. So, too, must thrombogen be changed into
thrombin, under the influence of thrombokinase, before it can act
upon fibrinogen. Almost all tissues yield the kinase which actuates
fibrin-ferment. The utility of this provision is manifest. A bird’s blood
contains everything necessary to form a clot with the exception of
thrombokinase. The injury which brings the blood into contact with a
broken surface supplies this ferment of the ferment. Fibrin-ferment,
rendered active, at once changes fibrinogen into fibrin. The same
interaction is necessary before the blood of a mammal is susceptible
of clotting. But a mammal’s blood is even readier to clot than is the
blood of a bird; for not only will a broken surface provide it with
thrombokinase, but the leucocytes contained within the blood, when
injured, also yield it. And the leucocytes are exceedingly sensitive of
any change of circumstance; on the slightest indication that
conditions are not normal they set free, perhaps owing to their own
disintegration, the kinase which turns thrombogen into thrombin.
There is a constitutional condition, fortunately rare, in which
blood does not coagulate. A person subject to this abnormality is
said to suffer from hæmophilia. It is alleged that this condition is
due to deficiency of lime in the blood; and the deficiency of lime is
said to be due to excess of phosphates. The subject suffers from
phosphaturia. His kidneys get rid of the superabundance of
phosphates by excreting them in combination with lime. If this
explanation be correct, there is a chronic insufficiency of lime in the
blood, because it is being constantly withdrawn in the process of
removing phosphates.
The difficulty in the way of establishing a complete theory of the
coagulation of blood increases when the phenomena of
incoagulability are considered. Blood may be rendered incapable of
clotting in a variety of ways. Leeches and other animals which suck
blood have the capacity of rendering it incoagulable. If the heads are
removed from a score of leeches, thrown into absolute alcohol,
dried, ground in a pepper mill, extracted with normal saline solution,
a dark turbid liquor is obtained. This liquor, after filtration and
sterilization at a temperature of 120° C., injected into the veins of an
animal, renders its blood incoagulable.
The preparation sold by druggists under the name “peptone,”
when injected into the veins of a dog, renders its blood incoagulable.
Commercial “peptone” is a mixture of many substances. Its
anticoagulation-effect is not due to the peptone which it contains. It
has been supposed to be due to imperfectly digested albumin and
gelatin (proteoses), but products of bacteric fermentation (toxins
and ptomaines) are more probably the active bodies. Not only is the
peptonized blood of a dog incoagulable, but if this blood be injected
into the veins of a rabbit (an animal upon which the direct injection
of peptone has no effect), it diminishes the coagulability of the
rabbit’s blood. If peptonized blood be mixed in a beaker with non-
peptonized blood, it prevents the coagulation of the latter. There is
little doubt but that the poison, whatever it may be, acts upon the
leucocytes; and there are some reasons for thinking that the poison
is not contained in the “peptone,” but is secreted by the liver of the
animal into which the “peptone” has been injected.
A still more remarkable property in relation to coagulation must
be assigned to leucocytes. The blood of a dog which has been
rendered incoagulable by injection of peptone recovers its
coagulability after a time. If a further injection of “peptone” be
made, the animal is found to be immune. Injection of “peptone” no
longer renders its blood incoagulable. In a similar manner the blood
develops a power of resisting the action of agents which induce its
coagulation whilst circulating in the vascular system. Nucleo-proteins
contained in extracts of lymphatic glands and other organs when
injected into the veins of living animals cause their blood to clot,
provided they are injected in sufficient quantity. If they are injected
in quantity less than sufficient to induce coagulation, they render the
animal immune to their influence. A larger quantity given to an
animal thus prepared fails to take effect. This brings the phenomena
of coagulation and resistance to coagulation to the verge of
chemistry. They extend into the domain in which pathology reigns.
Tempting though it be to record other facts with regard to these
phenomena which recent investigation has brought to light, it is
probably judicious to leave the problem at the frontier. Across the
frontier lies a fascinating land, rich with unimaginable possibilities for
the human race. Settlement is rapidly proceeding in this country,
which is charted, like other border-lands, with barbarous names:
“antibodies,” “haptors,” “amboceptors,” “toxins,” “antitoxins,” and the
like—finger-posts to hypotheses which show every sign of hasty and
provisional construction. But certain facts stand out, in whatever way
theory may, in the future, link them up. The virus of hydrophobia,
modified by passing through a rabbit, develops in human beings,
even when injected after they have been infected, the power of
resisting hydrophobia. The serum of a horse which has acquired
immunity to diphtheria aids the blood of a child, which has not had
time to become immune, in destroying the germs of this disease. It
is a contest between the blood and offensive bodies of all kinds
which find entrance to it, whether living germs or poisons in
solution; with victory always, in the long-run, on the side of the
blood, provided its owner does not die in the meantime. And not
only is the blood victorious in the struggle with any given invader,
but having repulsed him, it retains for a long while a property which
neutralizes all further attempts at aggression on his part. In the past,
physicians have fought disease with such clumsy weapons as
mercury, arsenic, and quinine. Now they anticipate disease. In mimic
warfare with an attenuated virus the blood is trained to combat.
Smallpox which has been passed through the body of a cow is
suppressed by the blood’s native strength. The exercise develops
skill to deal with the most virulent germs of the same kind. In cases
in which physicians cannot anticipate disease in human beings, they
train the blood of animals to meet it; and, keeping their serum in
stock, they can, when the critical moment arrives, reinforce the
fighting strength of the patient with this mercenary aid.
The Spleen.—The spleen is placed on the left side of the body,
and rather towards the back. It rests between the stomach and the
inner surface of the eighth, ninth, tenth, and eleventh ribs. It is
quickly distinguished from other organs by its brown-purple colour, a
sombre hue to which it owed its evil reputation with the humoralists.
The liver’s yellow bile tinged man’s mental outlook, preventing him
from seeing objects in their natural brightness; but the spleen made
black bile, which, mounting to the brain, displayed its malign
influence upon the action of that organ, as, or in, the worst of
humours.
The spleen is invested with a capsule of no great toughness.
Inside the capsule is “spleen-pulp.” When the fresh organ is cut
across, it is seen that, although most of the pulp is of the colour of
dark venous blood, it is mottled with light patches. In some animals
—the cat, for example—these whitish patches are small round spots,
regularly arranged at a certain distance from the capsule. The
distinction into “red pulp” and “white pulp” marks a division into two
kinds of tissue with entirely different functions. The white pulp is
lymphoid tissue, lymph-follicles developed in the outer or
connective-tissue coat of the branches of the splenic artery. Its
function is to make lymphocytes, of which, for reasons which will
shortly appear, the spleen needs an abundant supply. The
constitution of the red pulp is entirely different, and peculiar to the
spleen. The branches of the splenic artery divide in the usual way
into smaller and still smaller twigs until the finest arterioles are
reached; but these arterioles do not give rise to capillary vessels. At
the point at which in any other organ their branches would attain the
calibre of capillaries, the connective-tissue cells which make their
walls scatter into a reticulum. They are no longer tiles with closely
fitting, sinuous, dovetailed borders, but stellate cells with long
delicate processes uniting to constitute a network. The blood which
the arterioles bring to the pulp is not conducted by closed capillary
vessels across the pulp to the commencing splenic veins. It falls into
the general sponge-work. The venules commence exactly in the
same way as the arterioles end. Stellate connective-tissue cells
become flat tiles placed edge to edge. The endothelium of an
arteriole might be likened to a column of men marching shoulder to
shoulder, three or four abreast; the connective tissue of the pulp, to
a crowd in an open place. The column breaks up into a crowd. On
the other side the crowd falls into rank as the endothelium of veins.
The capsule and the red pulp are largely composed of muscle-fibres.
These relax and contract about once a minute. By their contraction
the blood is squeezed out of the sponge.
If the spleen be enclosed in an air-tight box (an oncometer),
from which a tube leads to a pressure-gauge—a drum covered with
thin membrane on which the end of a lever rests, or a bent column
of mercury on which it floats—the pressure-gauge shows the
changes in volume of the spleen. The long end of the lever, which
records the variations of pressure in the gauge, may be made to
scratch a line on a soot-blackened surface of travelling paper. A
record of the variations in volume of the organ, which can be studied
at leisure, is thus obtained. It shows that the spleen is sensitive to
every change of pressure in the splenic artery. Small notches on the
tracing correspond to the beats of the heart. Larger curves record
the changes of blood-pressure due to respiration. A long slow rise
and fall marks the rhythmic dilation and contraction of the spleen
itself.
One of the three large arteries into which the cœliac axis divides
delivers blood to the spleen direct from the aorta. The splenic vein
joins the portal vein shortly before it enters the liver. Thus the spleen
is placed on a big vascular loop which directs blood, not long after it
has left the heart, from the aorta, through the spleen, to the liver.
The peculiar construction of the splenic pulp which brings the
blood more or less to rest within its sponge-work, and the
transmission to the liver of the blood which leaves the spleen,
indicate that it is an organ in which blood itself receives some kind
of treatment. It is not passed through it, as it is through all other
parts of the body, in closed pipes. The spleen is a reservoir, or a
filter-bed, into which blood is received.
Fig. 5.—A Minute Portion of the Pulp of the Spleen,
very highly magnified.
Stellate connective-tissue cells form spaces
containing red blood-corpuscles and
leucocytes. In the centre of the diagram
is shown the mode of origin of a
venule. It contains two phagocytes—
the upper with a nucleus, two blood-
corpuscles just ingested, and one
partially digested in its body-substance;
the lower with two blood-corpuscles.
The red blood-corpuscles of mammals are cells without nuclei,
and with little, if any, body-protoplasm. They are merely vehicles for
carrying hæmoglobin. We should deny to them the status of cell, if it
were possible to prescribe the limit at which a structural unit ceases
to be entitled to rank as a cell. They are helpless creatures,
incapable of renewing their substance or of making good any of the
damage to which the vicissitudes of their ceaseless circulation render
them peculiarly liable. It is impossible to say with any approach to
accuracy how long they last, but probably their average duration is
comparatively short. The spleen is a labyrinth of tissue-spaces
through which at frequent intervals all red corpuscles float. If they
are clean, firm, resilient, they pass through without interference. If
obsolete they are broken up. In the recesses of the spleen-pulp,
leucocytes overtake the laggards of the blood-fleet, attach their
pseudopodia to them, draw them into their body-substance, digest
them. The albuminous constituent of hæmoglobin they use,
presumably, for their own nutrition. The iron-containing colouring
matter they decompose, and excrete in two parts; the iron (perhaps
combined with protein); the colouring matter, without iron, as the
pigment, or an antecedent of the pigment, which the liver will
excrete in bile. Hæmoglobin is undoubtedly the source of bilirubin,
and general considerations lead to the conclusion that it is split into
protein, iron, and iron-free pigment in the spleen; but the details of
this process have never been checked by chemical analysis. Neither
bile-pigment nor an iron compound can be detected in the blood of
the splenic vein. The only evidence of the setting free of iron in the
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  • 1. Solution Manual for Internal Auditing Assurance and Consulting Services 2nd Edition by Reding download pdf https://testbankmall.com/product/solution-manual-for-internal-auditing- assurance-and-consulting-services-2nd-edition-by-reding/ Visit testbankmall.com to explore and download the complete collection of test banks or solution manuals!
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  • 5. CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION TO INTERNAL AUDITING Illustrative Solutions Internal Auditing: Assurance and Consulting Services, 2 nd Edition. © 2009 by The Institute of Internal Auditors Research Foundation, 247 Maitland Avenue, Altamonte Springs, FL 32701 USA IS1-2 communication of business events and conditions as they affect and represent a given enterprise or other entity. The task of accounting is to reduce a tremendous mass of detailed information to manageable and understandable proportions. Auditing does none of these things. Auditing must consider business events and conditions too, but it does not have the task of measuring or
  • 6. CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION TO INTERNAL AUDITING Illustrative Solutions Internal Auditing: Assurance and Consulting Services, 2 nd Edition. © 2009 by The Institute of Internal Auditors Research Foundation, 247 Maitland Avenue, Altamonte Springs, FL 32701 USA IS1-3 communicating them. Its task is to review the measurements and communications of accounting for propriety. Auditing is analytical, not constructive; it is critical, investigative, concerned with the basis for accounting measurements and assertions. Auditing emphasizes proof, the support for financial statements and data. Thus auditing has its principal roots, not in accounting which it reviews, but in logic on which it leans heavily for ideas and methods.” — Mautz and Sharaf, Philosophy of Auditing 9. The primary difference between internal financial reporting assurance services and external financial reporting assurance services is the audience. Internal auditors provide financial reporting assurance services primarily for the benefit of management and the board of directors. Independent outside auditors provide financial reporting assurance services primarily for the benefit of third parties. 10. Factors that have fueled the dramatic increase in demand for internal audit services over the past 30 years include globalization, increasingly complex corporate structures, e-commerce and other technological advances, and a global economic downturn. 11. The types of procedures an internal auditor might use to test the design adequacy and operating effectiveness of governance, risk management, and control processes include: • Inquiring of managers and employees. • Observing activities. • Inspecting resources and documents. • Reperforming control activities. • Performing trend and ratio analysis. • Performing data analysis using computer-assisted audit techniques. • Gathering corroborating information from independent third parties. • Performing direct tests of events and transactions. 12. Cosourcing means that an organization is supplementing its in-house internal audit function to some extent via the services of third-party vendors. Common situations in which an organization will cosource its internal audit function include circumstances in which the third-party vendor has specialized audit knowledge and skills that the organization does not have in-house and circumstances in which the organization has insufficient in-house internal audit resources to fully complete its planned engagements. 13. The IIA’s official motto is “Progress Through Sharing.” 14. The IIA headquarters leadership team includes the president and CEO and the chief staff officers over global operations, North American operations, and shared services. Hundreds of volunteers also provide IIA leadership. These leaders include the 38-member IIA Board of Directors, international committees, district representatives, and officers and board members of the various national institutes. 15. The two categories of guidance included in the International Professional Practices Framework (IPPF) are mandatory guidance, which includes the Definition of Internal Auditing, the Code of Ethics, and the International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing (Standards), and strongly recommended guidance, which includes Practice Advisories, Position Papers, and Practice Guides. 16. The Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) exam tests a candidate’s expertise in four parts: • The Internal Audit Activity’s Role in Governance, Risk, and Control. • Conducting the Internal Audit Engagement.
  • 7. CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION TO INTERNAL AUDITING Illustrative Solutions Internal Auditing: Assurance and Consulting Services, 2 nd Edition. © 2009 by The Institute of Internal Auditors Research Foundation, 247 Maitland Avenue, Altamonte Springs, FL 32701 USA IS1-4 • Business Analysis and Information Technology. • Business Management Skills. 17. The Institute of Internal Auditors Research Foundation’s (IIARF’s) major objective is “to support research and education in internal auditing, thereby enhancing the development of the internal audit profession.” 18. Inherent personal qualities that are common among successful internal auditors include integrity, passion, work ethic, curiosity, creativity, initiative, and flexibility. 19. Internal auditors must have integrity because the users of their work products rely on the internal auditors’ professional judgments to make important business decisions. These stakeholders must have confidence that internal auditors are trustworthy. 20. The four areas are interpersonal skills, tools and techniques, internal audit standards, theory, and methodology, and knowledge areas. 21. Many individuals now enter the internal audit profession directly out of school. Others switch to internal auditing after beginning their careers in another area of the organization or in public accounting. Some organizations require prospective managers to spend time working in internal auditing as part of their management trainee program. 22. Most people who work in internal auditing do not spend their entire careers there. They instead use internal auditing as a stepping stone into financial or nonfinancial management positions, either in the organizations they have been working for or in other organizations. 23. Options that an individual has if he or she chooses to be a career internal auditor include progressing upward through the ranks of a single organization’s internal audit function into internal audit management, advancing up the ladder by moving from one organization to another, or moving upward through the various levels in a firm that provides internal assurance and consulting services to other organizations. Multiple-choice Questions 1. A is the best answer. This answer is most closely aligned with The IIA’s definition of internal auditing. Per the definition, internal auditing comprises assurance and consulting activities and is designed to add value and improve an organization’s operations. The other answers may represent appropriate activities for an internal audit function, but they do not represent its overall responsibility. 2. D is the best answer. An organization’s strategy, not its objectives, is management’s means of employing resources and assigning responsibilities. It defines how management plans to achieve the organization’s objectives. 3. A is the best answer. Assurance services are defined in the glossary to the Standards as “an objective examination of evidence for the purpose of providing an independent assessment on governance, risk management, or control processes for the organization. Examples may include financial, performance, compliance, system security, and due diligence engagements.” 4. C is the best answer. Project management skills are important, but according to The IIA’s Internal Auditor Competency Framework, this attribute falls in the Tools and Techniques competency category. The other three are all part of the Interpersonal Skills competency category.
  • 8. CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION TO INTERNAL AUDITING Illustrative Solutions Internal Auditing: Assurance and Consulting Services, 2 nd Edition. © 2009 by The Institute of Internal Auditors Research Foundation, 247 Maitland Avenue, Altamonte Springs, FL 32701 USA IS1-5 5. B is the best answer. Internal auditors need to develop an understanding of the auditee’s objectives and risks during the planning stages of an engagement. The internal auditor will use the auditee’s business objectives, together with the risks that threaten those objectives, as a framework for defining the desired outcomes of the engagement. The other answers may be part of an assurance engagement, but understanding the auditee would not be sufficient for the internal auditors to meet these objectives. Discussion Questions 1. Objectives define what an individual or organization wants to achieve. Strategies define how individuals or organizations plan to achieve their objectives. A common objective expressed by students is to achieve a good grade. Some students indicate that they want to learn. These responses open the door for the instructor to discuss the relationship between objectives and key performance indicators. If the instructor’s grading criteria are aligned with his or her student learning objectives, the grades students earn in the course should reflect their levels of learning. An appropriate strategy for learning and achieving a good grade in a course includes: • Obtaining a clear understanding of the instructor’s expectations and grading criteria. • Attending all class sessions. • Actively participating in class discussions. • Completing all assignments on a timely basis. • Studying diligently throughout the semester instead of just before exams. • Communicating with the instructor in a timely manner if problems are encountered. 2. The student’s objective is to get to her 8:00 a.m. class on time. Students may encounter several different risks that threaten this objective and the corresponding controls that can be implemented to mitigate these risks. Simple examples of risks and controls include: Risks Oversleeping Controls • Getting to bed at a reasonable time • Setting an alarm clock Missing the bus • • • Packing books and supplies before going to bed Planning in advance the activities that must be completed in the morning before leaving the house Allowing sufficient time to walk to the bus stop 3. The point to this question is that monitoring activities such as trend analysis are most effective when observed performance is compared with predetermined expectations. It would be reasonable for the owner of the flower shops to expect sales to be higher in certain months, for example in February because of Valentine’s Day and in March or April, depending on when Easter occurs. Accordingly, the fact that monthly sales remained relatively consistent at the one shop over the six-month period should be reason for concern, especially if the sales performance at this shop was inconsistent with
  • 9. CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION TO INTERNAL AUDITING Illustrative Solutions Internal Auditing: Assurance and Consulting Services, 2 nd Edition. © 2009 by The Institute of Internal Auditors Research Foundation, 247 Maitland Avenue, Altamonte Springs, FL 32701 USA IS1-6 the sales performance at the other four shops. This question also illustrates the value of internal benchmarking, that is, the comparison of performance among comparable business units. 4. a. Inherent personal qualities common among successful internal auditors include, for example: • Integrity. • Passion. • Work ethic. • Curiosity. • Creativity. • Initiative. • Flexibility. • Competitiveness. • Commitment to excellence. • Inquisitiveness. • Confidence. • Professionalism. b. The knowledge and skills entry-level internal auditors are expected to possess include, for example: • Knowledge of internal auditing and audit-related subjects such as accounting, management, and information technology. • Understanding the concepts of business objectives, risks, and controls. • Hands-on working knowledge of audit-related software such as flowcharting software and generalized audit software. • Oral and written communication skills. • Analytical, problem-solving skills. Credentials that entry-level internal auditors are expected to possess include, for example: • A good GPA. • Scholarships. • An internship or other relevant work experience. • Active involvement in a student organization such as an IIA student chapter or a business fraternity. • Although not yet common, completion of one or more parts of the CIA exam by students before they graduate is rising. c. Additional knowledge and skills in-charge internal auditors might be expected to possess include, for example: • An in-depth knowledge of the organization and its industry. • Specialized subject matter expertise in more than one area such as accounting, technology, emerging regulations, enterprise risk management, or control self-assessment. • Communicating effectively and building rapport with management. • Coaching subordinates and sharing expertise. • Making presentations to and facilitating meetings of management personnel. Credentials in-charge internal auditors are expected to possess include, for example: • Professional certification such as a CIA, Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Chartered Accountant (CA), or Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA).
  • 10. CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION TO INTERNAL AUDITING Illustrative Solutions Internal Auditing: Assurance and Consulting Services, 2 nd Edition. © 2009 by The Institute of Internal Auditors Research Foundation, 247 Maitland Avenue, Altamonte Springs, FL 32701 USA IS1-7 • A developing track record of successfully leading engagements that is reflected in positive performance evaluations and complimentary feedback from service recipients. Additional knowledge and skills chief audit executives (CAEs) might be expected to possess include, for example: • Deep expertise in governance, risk management, and control. • Commanding respect among senior executives. • Thinking strategically and stimulating change within the organization. • Building and sustaining an internal audit function that adds value to the organization. Credentials internal audit executives are expected to possess include, for example: • A history of successful professional advancement and leadership. • A reputation inside and outside the organization as a thought leader in governance, risk management, and control. Case The purpose of this case is twofold: (1) to expose students to The IIA’s website and (2) to have the students study pertinent information about the internal audit profession. Individual instructors should customize the assignment to align it with their specific goals. As of the date this textbook was published, the web addresses for the two questions can be found at the following links. Instructors should check these links in advance to ensure they still contain the information requested in the case, and modify the case as necessary should the information on the website change. 1. http://www.theiia.org/theiia/about-the-profession/faqs/ 2. http://www.theiia.org/certification/certified-internal-auditor/cia-exam-content/
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  • 12. Red blood-corpuscles, properly so called, are found only in vertebrate animals, although invertebrate animals, from worms upwards, possess genuine blood, and in some of them it contains hæmoglobin, or a similar pigment in the form of globules. These might be likened to the non-nucleated corpuscles of mammals, but it must be remembered that the non-nucleated cells of mammals have been evolved from the nucleated blood-corpuscles of birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fishes. Below fishes red blood-cells are not found. Hæmoglobin is usually dissolved in the blood of invertebrate animals. It is impossible to trace any relationship between the coloured globules of invertebrates and the blood-cells of fishes. The coloured globules must be regarded as deposits or accretions of hæmoglobin held together by a proteid substance. The nucleated red corpuscles of submammalian vertebrates multiply by cell division while circulating in the blood-stream. A good subject in which to look for dividing corpuscles is the blood of a newt in spring-time, when rapidly increasing activity calls for an additional supply. There is nothing to distinguish the method of division of a nucleated blood-corpuscle from that of any other cell. The life-story of the red blood-corpuscles of mammals is one of the most fascinating that the histologist has to tell. He wishes that he could tell it with assurance; but, unfortunately, there are many uncertainties, due to conflicting testimony, in its earlier chapters. It is unlikely that a blood-corpuscle lives for long. A month or six weeks is probably the term of its existence. The rapidity with which the stock is replenished after bleeding shows that there must be ample provision in the body for making blood-corpuscles. The rate at which they disappear after they have been added in excess shows that there is an equally effective mechanism for destroying them. If half as many again as the animal already possesses be injected into its veins, the number is reduced to its normal limit in about ten days. It is clear that they can be made and can be destroyed with great facility, and it seems a legitimate inference that production and destruction are constantly taking place. Regarding the way in which they are destroyed there is no uncertainty. We shall refer to this
  • 13. subject when describing the functions of the spleen. But how are they made? We can sketch their history in outline, but the evidence is conflicting with regard to all matters of detail. In early stages of embryonic life all red blood-corpuscles are nucleated, as they are permanently in birds and the other classes of vertebrates below mammals. In embryonic mammals they multiply by division whilst circulating in the blood, just as in the newt. But it is generally believed that this is not the most important source of new ones. During the earliest stages of growth they are being formed in enormous numbers. Such instances of division as can be seen in circulating blood appear to be all too infrequent to account for their rapid multiplication, and there can be no doubt but that a more complicated method of production is more important. Their formation is described as taking place “endogenously.” Certain cells termed “vaso-formative,” or “vaso-sanguiformative,” reach a considerable size, and become stellate in form, or branched. Their nuclei divide without the cell dividing. Each nucleus accumulates a little hæmoglobin round it. A space filled with fluid appears inside the cell. The nuclei project into this space. Then they drop off with their envelopes of hæmoglobin. The outer shell of the big vaso- formative cell becomes the wall of a capillary bloodvessel. By its branches it links up with other vaso-formative cells, making a network of vessels. The fluid inside it is the plasma of the blood. The nuclei and their envelopes are blood-corpuscles. This, if it be a true story, is a comprehensive way of making bloodvessels and blood at the same time. Doubts have been thrown upon its accuracy, but many leading histologists strenuously maintain that this description is correct. At a certain period all nucleated red corpuscles disappear from mammalian blood. Non-nucleated corpuscles take their place. How are the latter formed? For a short stage of embryonic life nucleated cells containing blood-pigment are seen, or are supposed to be seen, in the liver—there is, unfortunately, great difficulty in distinguishing them with certainty from young liver-cells; later they are seen in the spleen; throughout the whole of life they are to be seen in the
  • 14. marrow of bone. The nucleated cells give origin to the non-nucleated corpuscles. It is hardly legitimate to call these cells persistent embryonic corpuscles. Yet the chain which connects the cells which in the embryo are capable of dividing into pairs of nucleated red blood-corpuscles, and the cells which, assuming the rôle of parent cells, do not accumulate hæmoglobin for their own purposes, but for the benefit of the red corpuscles which split off from them, is probably unbroken. In this sense they are persistent embryonic corpuscles which have deserted the blood-stream, and have taken shelter in certain tissues which are particularly favourable for cell division. The situations in which they hide themselves are singularly suggestive. In the liver there is an abundant supply of nutriment, more abundant than in any other part of the body of the embryo. Later, in the spleen, red blood-corpuscles are being destroyed. Materials available for making new ones must therefore be set free. The inside of a hollow bone is a peculiarly sheltered situation. The fat cells of marrow accumulate there after a time; but within some bones the marrow develops very little fat; hence it shows the red colour, which is due to its abundant bloodvessels. This “red marrow” is the most important seat of the manufacture of red blood- corpuscles in adult life. Unfortunately, when we try to answer the question, How are they formed? we are obliged to speak with caution. Some histologists assert that the nucleated cells divide, and that one of the two daughter cells accumulates hæmoglobin, and loses—that is to say, extrudes—its nucleus. Others maintain that the nucleated cells become irregular in form; that hæmoglobin accumulates in the projecting portion of the cell; that this projecting portion breaks off as a non-nucleated corpuscle. It would be indiscreet at the present time to pronounce in favour of either of these reports, although the decision is of theoretical importance. If the former account be true, red blood-corpuscles are nucleated blood-cells which have lost their nuclei. If the latter account be in accordance with fact, it is hardly justifiable to regard them as cells. They are parts of cells which finish their existence independently of the cell body and nucleus to which they belong. As circumstantial evidence, favouring the theory that cell division is normal and the
  • 15. nucleus subsequently lost, may be pleaded the existence in marrow, and also in the embryonic liver and spleen, of certain very peculiar cells. These cells have long been known as giant cells, and all attempts at accounting for them have broken down. They are relatively of immense size: their diameter may be twenty times as great as that of a red blood-corpuscle. Each contains a huge irregular, bulging nucleus. Hence the cells are termed “megacaryocytes” (big-nucleus cells). They must not be confounded with the polycaryocytes (cells with several nuclei), which eat up degrading bone, although it must be confessed that megacaryocytes and polycaryocytes appear to be genetically connected. It is supposed that megacaryocytes consume the nuclei which red corpuscles extrude during the process of their conversion from nucleated cells. Traces of nuclei, or things which often look like nuclei, are found in their body-substance. Their own overgrown misformed nuclei appear to be the result of an excess of nuclear food. It is certainly remarkable that megacaryocytes are not found below mammals. They do not occur in any animal in which red blood-corpuscles retain their nuclei. Polycaryocytes are found in numbers in the bones of growing birds. They are evidently scooping out bone from situations in which it has to be displaced in order that the shape of the bone as a whole may be changed. But there are no megacaryocytes in birds. On the other hand, megacaryocytes are present in the liver, and later in the spleen, of mammals at the periods when blood-formation is occurring most actively in these organs. From the liver they disappear early. In most mammals they disappear from the spleen about the time of birth; but in some—the hedgehog, for example—they are found in the spleen throughout the whole of life. Hæmoglobin is a substance which has the property of uniting with oxygen to form oxyhæmoglobin—a compound from which the oxygen is, again, very readily withdrawn. It is extremely soluble, but may be made to crystallize by adding alcohol to blood, after setting the hæmoglobin free from the corpuscles by freezing and thawing. From the blood of Man and most other animals it crystallizes in the
  • 16. form of rhombic prisms, whether in the oxidized (oxyhæmoglobin) or non-oxidized condition. The addition of oxygen does not affect its crystalline form; although crystalline, it is absolutely non-diffusible. This is due to the great size of its molecule, which is probably larger than that of any other substance which is capable of crystallizing. The percentage composition of hæmoglobin conforms closely with that of albumin and other proteins, with this most important difference: it contains a definite proportion of iron—0·336 per cent. That the percentage of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulphur, and oxygen should agree with that commonly found in proteins is inevitable, since it may be split into a part which contains all the iron, hæmatin, and a proteid part resembling albumin; and the latter constitutes 96 per cent. of its weight. There is no doubt but that its value as a vehicle of oxygen depends upon the presence of iron. In the matter of taking up and dropping oxygen, hæmatin behaves somewhat in the same manner as hæmoglobin; whereas if iron be removed from hæmatin the “iron-free hæmatin” loses its respiratory value. It is almost certain that a molecule of hæmoglobin contains a single atom of iron. On this supposition its molecular formula may be calculated. It is not quite the same for all animals, although the variations are slight. For the blood of the horse it is as follows: C₇₁₂H₁₁₃₀N₂₁₄S₂FeO₂₄₅. This means a molecular weight of 16708. We give the figures, because the properties of hæmoglobin will be better understood if its prodigious molecular weight is borne in mind. In a sense, the reason for the great size of its molecule is not far to seek. The atomic weight of iron (Fe = 56) is much greater than that of either of the other elements contained in hæmoglobin. The molecule needs to be very great to float an atom of iron. As it is, the corpuscles are heavier than the plasma which surrounds them, in the proportion of about 13 to 12. Although hæmoglobin is a crystallizable substance, its immense molecule is absolutely non-diffusible. It cannot pass through a membrane. This is of no consequence as regards the
  • 17. relation of hæmoglobin to the walls of the capillary bloodvessels, since it is contained in corpuscles; but it is of great importance as regards its relation to the discs which carry it. A very small quantity of enveloping substance suffices to prevent it from diffusing into the plasma of the blood. The great molecules are held together and isolated from the fluid in which they float by a minimal amount of insoluble globin. The iron needed for the making of hæmoglobin is obtained both from meat and vegetables. The constituents of an ordinary diet provide from 2 to 3 centigrammes of iron a day. The whole of the blood contains about 4·5 grammes. When corpuscles are being destroyed in the spleen, the iron which their pigment contains is largely reabsorbed and rendered available for further use. The iron in a mixed diet is more than sufficient to counterbalance any loss. Milk contains extremely little iron. Before birth the liver and spleen accumulate a store of iron which lasts until the end of the nursing period, unless this be unduly prolonged. If it be prolonged, the child is apt to become anæmic. Iron has been administered in the treatment of anæmia ever since its presence in the red clot of blood was recognized a hundred and fifty years ago. Physicians are agreed that in the anæmia of young people it is of value; but observations made with a view to obtaining definite data as to the increase in number of blood-corpuscles which results from the administration of iron, without any other alteration in the diet or the habits of the patient, have not given accordant results. Some observers have obtained an increase with organic compounds of iron, others with inorganic compounds; some are in favour of small doses, others of very large ones. As in the treatment by drugs of other abnormal conditions, it is difficult to isolate the effect of the drug from the effects of improvements in the general regimen. Yet physicians agree that iron accentuates the beneficial effects of fresh air and improved diet. When the surface of the body is struck, the effect of the blow is marked at first by redness. There is nothing to show that small bloodvessels have been ruptured and blood effused beneath the
  • 18. skin. Next day the injured area is reddish-purple. The bruise turns blue, green, yellow, and eventually disappears. In the process of absorption, oxyhæmoglobin undergoes decomposition. First its proteid constituent is removed, leaving a coloured pigment containing iron, termed “hæmatin”; soon reduced by loss of oxygen to hæmochromogen. When Sir George Stokes first described the spectrum of blood (cf. p. 185), he showed that as hæmoglobin may exist in an oxidized and in a non-oxidized condition, distinguished by their spectra, so also may the coloured residue which is left after the proteid constituent has been removed from hæmoglobin. This coloured residue he termed, when oxidized, “hæmatin”; when not oxidized, “reduced hæmatin.” Stokes’s reduced hæmatin is now termed “hæmochromogen.” Hæmochromogen stands for the coloured nucleus of hæmoglobin. Although it is not present in hæmoglobin as hæmochromogen—hence we must not speak of hæmoglobin as made of a protein, x, plus hæmochromogen, y—it is to its coloured residue that hæmoglobin owes its value as a carrier of oxygen. Later, iron is removed from hæmochromogen, leaving hæmatoidin, a substance often found at the seat of old hæmorrhages, where it may remain unchanged for a very long time. Hæmatoidin is apparently identical with the yellow pigment of bile, bilirubin. The green colour which shows itself in the bruise seems to indicate that the more oxidized bile-pigment, biliverdin, is formed in the first instance. Red corpuscles, when destroyed in the spleen, pass through transformations similar to those which blood undergoes when effused beneath the skin. Their protein is used by the phagocytes which eat them. Their iron is reserved for the use of the blood-forming cells of the red marrow of bone. The pigment which remains as the residue of hæmoglobin is carried by the splenic vein to the liver, which secretes it as bile-pigment. So much of the bile-pigment as is reabsorbed by the wall of the alimentary canal is eventually excreted as the pigment of urine. Such is the history of the changes which blood-pigment undergoes within the living body. To a certain extent its chemistry can be followed in the laboratory; but it must be remembered, when
  • 19. we are treating of the chemistry of a substance as complex as hæmoglobin, that the products which can be obtained from it in the laboratory are not necessarily those into which it is transformed in the body. In the laboratory oxyhæmoglobin is easily changed into methæmoglobin, a substance of the same percentage composition, but with its oxygen more firmly fixed. Methæmoglobin can be decomposed into a proteid substance and hæmatin. Hæmatin, when acted on by reducing agents, becomes hæmochromogen. Hæmochromogen, when subjected to such a reducing agent as a mixture of tin and hydrochloric acid, gives rise to coloured bodies closely resembling bile-pigments—not as they are secreted by the bile, but as they appear in the urine. It is impossible to prove that the changing colours of a bruise indicate a sequence of chemical transformations from hæmoglobin to bile-pigment, but it is not improbable that such a description is correct. The test commonly used to ascertain the presence of bile-pigment, i.e., bilirubin, is the play of colours which it exhibits when oxidized by fuming nitric acid. From yellow it turns to green, to blue, and then to purple, more or less reversing the colours of the bruise. It is fairly certain that effused blood undergoes changes along lines which, if not identical with those through which blood passes on its road to bile-pigment, are at any rate very similar. Coagulation of Lymph and Blood.—Two or three minutes after blood has been shed it begins to clot. In ten minutes the vessel into which it has been received may be inverted without spilling the blood. After a time the jelly, holding all the corpuscles, shrinks from the sides of the jar. It squeezes out a transparent, straw-coloured fluid—serum. The clot continues to contract until, in a few hours, about one-half of the weight of the blood is clot, the other half serum. Lymph coagulates like blood, but most specimens clot more slowly, and the product is less firm. When the process is watched through the microscope—a few drops of the almost colourless, transparent blood of a lobster afford an excellent opportunity of studying the formation of the clot— innumerable filaments of the most delicate description are seen to
  • 20. shoot out from many centres. They multiply until they constitute a felt-work. In the case of blood obtained from a vertebrate animal, this felt-work holds the corpuscles in its meshes. Its filaments exhibit a remarkable tendency to contract. They shorten as much as the enclosed corpuscles allow. The filaments may be prevented from entangling the corpuscles by whipping the blood, from the instant that it is shed, with a bundle of twigs or wires. The fibrin collects on the wires, while the corpuscles remain in the serum. If this fibrin is washed in running water until all adherent serum and corpuscles are removed, it appears as a soft white stringy substance which, when dried, resembles isinglass. Clotting is a protection against hæmorrhage. As it oozes from a scratch or tiny wound, blood clots, forming a natural plaster which prevents continued bleeding. It has little if any influence in resisting a strongly flowing stream of blood. But a clean cut through a large vessel is an accident which rarely happens as the result of natural causes. It is not the kind of injury to which animals are liable. When an artery is severed by a blunt instrument, the muscle-fibres of its wall contract. They occlude the vessel. The blood clots at the place where the vessel is injured, and plugs it. This happens also when a surgeon ties an artery. He is careful to pull the ligature sufficiently tight to crush its wall. His sensitive fingers feel it give. He stops before the thread has cut it through. As will be explained later, the clotting of blood is promoted by contact with injured tissue. If in tying an artery its wall be not crushed, the blood in it may remain liquid. When it is skilfully tied, the blood clots, forming a firm plug which is practically a part of the artery, by the time that the silk thread used in tying it is thrown out, owing to the death of the ring of tissue which it compressed. After a tooth has been extracted, the cavity is closed and further bleeding stopped by clotted blood. When large vessels have been severed, the copious hæmorrhage which follows induces fainting. For a short time the heart stops, or beats very feebly. The blood-pressure falls. The bloodvessels
  • 21. contract. A clot has time to form. An emotional tendency to faint at the sight of blood is a provision for giving the various causes which stop bleeding an opportunity of coming into play. It is a useful reflex action, always supposing that the person who is liable to it faints at the sight of his own blood. Amongst other reasons for the greater fortitude of women—they are far less subject to this emotional reflex than men—might be alleged the circumstances of life of primitive people. It was the part of their women-folk to dress wounds, not to receive them. The phenomenon of coagulation has attracted attention from the earliest times. It was a phenomenon that needed explanation, and culinary experience suggested analogies close at hand. Hippocrates attributed the clotting of blood to its coming to rest and growing cold. The blood which gushed from a warrior’s wound formed a still pool by his side. It set into a jelly as it cooled. Until the second quarter of the nineteenth century this theory was deemed sufficient. It then occurred to two men of inquiring mind to institute control experiments. John Davy placed a dish of blood upon the hob. William Hunter kept one shaking. In both experiments the blood clotted more quickly than it did in vessels of the same size, containing the same amount of the same blood, left upon the table. Even before this date an observation had been made regarding the circumstances in which clotting occurs, which has thrown much light upon the causes of the phenomenon. In 1772 Hewson gently tied a vein in two places. At the end of a couple of hours he opened the vein. The blood was still liquid, but clotted in a normal manner after it was shed. Scudamore showed that blood clots more slowly in a closed than in an open flask. A new theory, as little trustworthy as Hippocrates’, was based upon these observations. Blood clotted because it was exposed to air. A record of all observations of the circumstances of coagulation, and of all the theories to which they have given rise, would make an exceptionally interesting chapter in the history of human thought. It would bring into singular prominence stages in the development of what is now known as the “scientific method.” Not that Science has a method of her own.
  • 22. Philosophers of all classes would follow the same method if their data allowed of its application. The peculiarity of the data with which Science deals is that they can be brought to a test of which the data of historical, or political, or economic theory are not susceptible. They can be confronted with control experiments. The control experiment is the alphabet and the syntax of the scientific method. No hypothesis is admissible into the pyramid of theory until it has passed this test. A natural phenomenon is observed. Every measurement which is applicable is taken and recorded—time, weight, temperature, colour. Scientific observation implies the tabulation of all particulars which are capable of statistical expression. Reflecting upon the relation of the phenomenon to other phenomena of a like nature, the philosopher—it is the philosophy of physiologists which interests us—formulates an hypothesis as to its cause. At this point the real difficulty of applying the scientific method begins. It is easy to formulate hypotheses. It is very difficult to devise control experiments. An experiment must be arranged which will provide that, while all other conditions in which the phenomenon has been observed to occur are reproduced, the condition which was ex hypothesi its cause shall be omitted. This digression into the philosophy of science may seem to be somewhat remote from our line of march, but it may perhaps hasten our progress in the comprehension of the story of physiology. There is no other science in which the control experiment plays an equally important part. Unless this is realized, the whole trend of experimental work will be misunderstood. Scudamore explained coagulation as due to contact with air. Based on the observations we have cited, no hypothesis could have seemed more reasonable. With a view to checking this hypothesis, blood was received into a tube of mercury. It coagulated in the Torricellian vacuum. Scudamore’s hypothesis, like many earlier and later, when confronted with a control experiment, was turned away, ashamed. Clotting is a property of plasma. Red corpuscles play no part in the process. Coagulation does not occur in a living healthy vessel. It occurs when the vessel, and especially when its inner coat, is
  • 23. injured. It is hastened by contact with wounded tissues, especially with wounded skin. Contact with a foreign body also starts coagulation. If a silk thread is drawn through a bloodvessel, from side to side, fibrin filaments shoot out from the thread, as well as from the wound inflicted on the vessel by the needle which was used to draw it through. Plasma contains a substance which sets into fibrin. It has been termed “fibrinogen.” It is present in lymph, and in almost all forms of exuded lymph. If sodium chloride (common salt) is added to plasma until it is half saturated—until it has dissolved half as much as the maximum quantity which it can dissolve—fibrinogen is thrown down as a flocculent precipitate. It can be redissolved and reprecipitated until it is pure. When fibrinogen was separated from plasma a step was taken towards the explanation of coagulation. Under certain conditions fibrinogen sets into fibrin. The question which then presented itself for solution was as follows: What is the substance which, by acting upon or combining with fibrinogen, converts it into fibrin? The clue to the solution of this question was obtained from the consideration of certain observations made by Andrew Buchanan in 1830, but long neglected, because their significance was not understood. Buchanan had observed that some specimens of lymph exuded into a lymph-space—the peritoneal cavity, for example—will clot; others will not. He noticed that they clot when, owing to puncture of a small bloodvessel during the process of drawing them off, they are tinged with blood. Determined to ascertain which of the constituents of blood is effective in rendering non-coagulable effusions capable of clotting, he added to them in turn red blood- corpuscles, serum, and the washings of blood clot. Either of the two latter was found to contain the clot-provoking substance. Thirty years later a German physiologist prepared fibrinogen from effused lymph by precipitating it with salt. He also treated serum in a similar way, precipitating a protein which he termed fibrinoplastin. When these two substances were dissolved and the solutions mixed, he obtained a clot, which he regarded as a compound of fibrinogen and fibrinoplastin. Subsequently he found that the mixture did not always
  • 24. clot, but he discovered that if he coagulated blood with alcohol, and washed this residue, the washings added to the mixed solution just referred to invariably produced a clot. Thinking that the substance which he obtained from his alcohol-coagulated blood could not be proteid, he termed it “fibrin-ferment.” He neglected the control experiment. He failed to ascertain whether or not all three substances were needed. Had he tried adding fibrin-ferment to fibrinogen, he would have discovered that the further addition of fibrinoplastin was unnecessary. He did not ascertain, as he might have done, that the weight of fibrin formed is somewhat less, not greater, than the weight of fibrinogen used. (Fibrinogen gives off a certain quantity of globulin when it changes into fibrin.) He was also wrong in supposing that the water which he added to alcohol- coagulated blood dissolved no protein. His “fibrin-ferment” is always associated with a protein. Since it may also be obtained from lymphatic glands, thymus gland, and other tissues which contain lymphocytes, it has been inferred that it is itself a protein, of the class known as nucleo-proteins. The fact that it is destroyed at so low a temperature as 55° C. has been supposed to confirm the theory that it is a protein. But with regard to the chemical nature of fibrin-ferment, as of all other ferments, we are at present in the dark. Under ordinary circumstances, when blood clots, the fibrin- ferment, or plasmase, or thrombin—it has received various names— is set free by leucocytes. Fluids which contain fibrinogen clot on the addition of a “ferment” which is either secreted by leucocytes or set free from leucocytes when they break up—as they are very apt to do, as soon as the conditions upon which their health depends are interfered with. Freshly shed blood contains minute particles, termed “platelets,” in diameter measuring about a quarter that of a red blood-corpuscle. When the inner coat of a vessel is injured, platelets accumulate at the injured spot. They form a little white heap, from which coagulation starts. Evidently they supply the ferment, or a precursor of the ferment. As yet their origin has not been traced. They are too
  • 25. large to be the unchanged granules of granular leucocytes, but that they are in some way derived from leucocytes seems probable. The further study of coagulation has shown that the conditions under which it occurs are more complicated than the simple explanation just given would seem to imply. This explanation holds good, so far as it goes, but facts connected with the details of the process have recently been brought to light which warn the physiologist that as yet his theory of coagulation is incomplete. The presence of salts of lime has an important relation to coagulation. If blood is received into a vessel in which has been placed some powdered oxalate of potash, or soap, or any other chemical which fixes lime, the blood does not coagulate. All other conditions are as usual, but lime is withdrawn from the plasma. The non-coagulation of oxalated plasma was interpreted as indicating that lime, under the influence of fibrin-ferment, combines with fibrinogen to form fibrin; that fibrinogen altered by fibrin-ferment combines with lime. This hypothesis was based upon the analogy of the curdling of milk. Milk cannot curdle if lime be absent. If rennin (milk-ferment), prepared from milk from which lime has been removed, be added to a solution of caseinogen (the coagulable protein of milk), also prepared from lime-free milk, no curd is produced. The addition of a few drops of a solution of chloride of lime results in the immediate curdling of the mixture. Evidently rennin so alters caseinogen as to bring it into a condition to combine with lime. But the analogy does not hold good for blood. In the case of plasma, lime acts, not upon fibrinogen, but upon the fibrin- ferment—or rather upon a precursor of fibrin-ferment—in such a way as to render it effective. Leucocytes produce a prothrombin, which in contact with lime salts is converted into thrombin, which coagulates fibrinogen. Fibrinogen is the substance which fibrin-ferment combined with salts of lime changes into fibrin. Yet even now the story is not complete, if the theory of coagulation is to be brought up to date. A perfectly clean cannula is passed into an artery of a bird. If it be
  • 26. thrust well beyond the place where the vessel has been cut, if the vessel be tied so gently as to avoid injury to its inner coat, and if the blood which first passes through the cannula be allowed to escape, the blood subsequently collected will not clot. It contains fibrinogen, lime salts, and fibrin-ferment, ordinarily so called; but the ferment is ineffective. The addition to the blood of a fragment of injured tissue, or of a watery extract of almost any tissue, immediately sets up coagulation. This observation brings fibrin-ferment into line with other ferments. Digestive ferments are secreted as zymogens, which require to be influenced by a kinase before they acquire fermentative activity. So, too, must thrombogen be changed into thrombin, under the influence of thrombokinase, before it can act upon fibrinogen. Almost all tissues yield the kinase which actuates fibrin-ferment. The utility of this provision is manifest. A bird’s blood contains everything necessary to form a clot with the exception of thrombokinase. The injury which brings the blood into contact with a broken surface supplies this ferment of the ferment. Fibrin-ferment, rendered active, at once changes fibrinogen into fibrin. The same interaction is necessary before the blood of a mammal is susceptible of clotting. But a mammal’s blood is even readier to clot than is the blood of a bird; for not only will a broken surface provide it with thrombokinase, but the leucocytes contained within the blood, when injured, also yield it. And the leucocytes are exceedingly sensitive of any change of circumstance; on the slightest indication that conditions are not normal they set free, perhaps owing to their own disintegration, the kinase which turns thrombogen into thrombin. There is a constitutional condition, fortunately rare, in which blood does not coagulate. A person subject to this abnormality is said to suffer from hæmophilia. It is alleged that this condition is due to deficiency of lime in the blood; and the deficiency of lime is said to be due to excess of phosphates. The subject suffers from phosphaturia. His kidneys get rid of the superabundance of phosphates by excreting them in combination with lime. If this explanation be correct, there is a chronic insufficiency of lime in the
  • 27. blood, because it is being constantly withdrawn in the process of removing phosphates. The difficulty in the way of establishing a complete theory of the coagulation of blood increases when the phenomena of incoagulability are considered. Blood may be rendered incapable of clotting in a variety of ways. Leeches and other animals which suck blood have the capacity of rendering it incoagulable. If the heads are removed from a score of leeches, thrown into absolute alcohol, dried, ground in a pepper mill, extracted with normal saline solution, a dark turbid liquor is obtained. This liquor, after filtration and sterilization at a temperature of 120° C., injected into the veins of an animal, renders its blood incoagulable. The preparation sold by druggists under the name “peptone,” when injected into the veins of a dog, renders its blood incoagulable. Commercial “peptone” is a mixture of many substances. Its anticoagulation-effect is not due to the peptone which it contains. It has been supposed to be due to imperfectly digested albumin and gelatin (proteoses), but products of bacteric fermentation (toxins and ptomaines) are more probably the active bodies. Not only is the peptonized blood of a dog incoagulable, but if this blood be injected into the veins of a rabbit (an animal upon which the direct injection of peptone has no effect), it diminishes the coagulability of the rabbit’s blood. If peptonized blood be mixed in a beaker with non- peptonized blood, it prevents the coagulation of the latter. There is little doubt but that the poison, whatever it may be, acts upon the leucocytes; and there are some reasons for thinking that the poison is not contained in the “peptone,” but is secreted by the liver of the animal into which the “peptone” has been injected. A still more remarkable property in relation to coagulation must be assigned to leucocytes. The blood of a dog which has been rendered incoagulable by injection of peptone recovers its coagulability after a time. If a further injection of “peptone” be made, the animal is found to be immune. Injection of “peptone” no longer renders its blood incoagulable. In a similar manner the blood
  • 28. develops a power of resisting the action of agents which induce its coagulation whilst circulating in the vascular system. Nucleo-proteins contained in extracts of lymphatic glands and other organs when injected into the veins of living animals cause their blood to clot, provided they are injected in sufficient quantity. If they are injected in quantity less than sufficient to induce coagulation, they render the animal immune to their influence. A larger quantity given to an animal thus prepared fails to take effect. This brings the phenomena of coagulation and resistance to coagulation to the verge of chemistry. They extend into the domain in which pathology reigns. Tempting though it be to record other facts with regard to these phenomena which recent investigation has brought to light, it is probably judicious to leave the problem at the frontier. Across the frontier lies a fascinating land, rich with unimaginable possibilities for the human race. Settlement is rapidly proceeding in this country, which is charted, like other border-lands, with barbarous names: “antibodies,” “haptors,” “amboceptors,” “toxins,” “antitoxins,” and the like—finger-posts to hypotheses which show every sign of hasty and provisional construction. But certain facts stand out, in whatever way theory may, in the future, link them up. The virus of hydrophobia, modified by passing through a rabbit, develops in human beings, even when injected after they have been infected, the power of resisting hydrophobia. The serum of a horse which has acquired immunity to diphtheria aids the blood of a child, which has not had time to become immune, in destroying the germs of this disease. It is a contest between the blood and offensive bodies of all kinds which find entrance to it, whether living germs or poisons in solution; with victory always, in the long-run, on the side of the blood, provided its owner does not die in the meantime. And not only is the blood victorious in the struggle with any given invader, but having repulsed him, it retains for a long while a property which neutralizes all further attempts at aggression on his part. In the past, physicians have fought disease with such clumsy weapons as mercury, arsenic, and quinine. Now they anticipate disease. In mimic warfare with an attenuated virus the blood is trained to combat. Smallpox which has been passed through the body of a cow is
  • 29. suppressed by the blood’s native strength. The exercise develops skill to deal with the most virulent germs of the same kind. In cases in which physicians cannot anticipate disease in human beings, they train the blood of animals to meet it; and, keeping their serum in stock, they can, when the critical moment arrives, reinforce the fighting strength of the patient with this mercenary aid. The Spleen.—The spleen is placed on the left side of the body, and rather towards the back. It rests between the stomach and the inner surface of the eighth, ninth, tenth, and eleventh ribs. It is quickly distinguished from other organs by its brown-purple colour, a sombre hue to which it owed its evil reputation with the humoralists. The liver’s yellow bile tinged man’s mental outlook, preventing him from seeing objects in their natural brightness; but the spleen made black bile, which, mounting to the brain, displayed its malign influence upon the action of that organ, as, or in, the worst of humours. The spleen is invested with a capsule of no great toughness. Inside the capsule is “spleen-pulp.” When the fresh organ is cut across, it is seen that, although most of the pulp is of the colour of dark venous blood, it is mottled with light patches. In some animals —the cat, for example—these whitish patches are small round spots, regularly arranged at a certain distance from the capsule. The distinction into “red pulp” and “white pulp” marks a division into two kinds of tissue with entirely different functions. The white pulp is lymphoid tissue, lymph-follicles developed in the outer or connective-tissue coat of the branches of the splenic artery. Its function is to make lymphocytes, of which, for reasons which will shortly appear, the spleen needs an abundant supply. The constitution of the red pulp is entirely different, and peculiar to the spleen. The branches of the splenic artery divide in the usual way into smaller and still smaller twigs until the finest arterioles are reached; but these arterioles do not give rise to capillary vessels. At the point at which in any other organ their branches would attain the calibre of capillaries, the connective-tissue cells which make their walls scatter into a reticulum. They are no longer tiles with closely
  • 30. fitting, sinuous, dovetailed borders, but stellate cells with long delicate processes uniting to constitute a network. The blood which the arterioles bring to the pulp is not conducted by closed capillary vessels across the pulp to the commencing splenic veins. It falls into the general sponge-work. The venules commence exactly in the same way as the arterioles end. Stellate connective-tissue cells become flat tiles placed edge to edge. The endothelium of an arteriole might be likened to a column of men marching shoulder to shoulder, three or four abreast; the connective tissue of the pulp, to a crowd in an open place. The column breaks up into a crowd. On the other side the crowd falls into rank as the endothelium of veins. The capsule and the red pulp are largely composed of muscle-fibres. These relax and contract about once a minute. By their contraction the blood is squeezed out of the sponge. If the spleen be enclosed in an air-tight box (an oncometer), from which a tube leads to a pressure-gauge—a drum covered with thin membrane on which the end of a lever rests, or a bent column of mercury on which it floats—the pressure-gauge shows the changes in volume of the spleen. The long end of the lever, which records the variations of pressure in the gauge, may be made to scratch a line on a soot-blackened surface of travelling paper. A record of the variations in volume of the organ, which can be studied at leisure, is thus obtained. It shows that the spleen is sensitive to every change of pressure in the splenic artery. Small notches on the tracing correspond to the beats of the heart. Larger curves record the changes of blood-pressure due to respiration. A long slow rise and fall marks the rhythmic dilation and contraction of the spleen itself. One of the three large arteries into which the cœliac axis divides delivers blood to the spleen direct from the aorta. The splenic vein joins the portal vein shortly before it enters the liver. Thus the spleen is placed on a big vascular loop which directs blood, not long after it has left the heart, from the aorta, through the spleen, to the liver.
  • 31. The peculiar construction of the splenic pulp which brings the blood more or less to rest within its sponge-work, and the transmission to the liver of the blood which leaves the spleen, indicate that it is an organ in which blood itself receives some kind of treatment. It is not passed through it, as it is through all other parts of the body, in closed pipes. The spleen is a reservoir, or a filter-bed, into which blood is received. Fig. 5.—A Minute Portion of the Pulp of the Spleen, very highly magnified.
  • 32. Stellate connective-tissue cells form spaces containing red blood-corpuscles and leucocytes. In the centre of the diagram is shown the mode of origin of a venule. It contains two phagocytes— the upper with a nucleus, two blood- corpuscles just ingested, and one partially digested in its body-substance; the lower with two blood-corpuscles. The red blood-corpuscles of mammals are cells without nuclei, and with little, if any, body-protoplasm. They are merely vehicles for carrying hæmoglobin. We should deny to them the status of cell, if it were possible to prescribe the limit at which a structural unit ceases to be entitled to rank as a cell. They are helpless creatures, incapable of renewing their substance or of making good any of the damage to which the vicissitudes of their ceaseless circulation render them peculiarly liable. It is impossible to say with any approach to accuracy how long they last, but probably their average duration is comparatively short. The spleen is a labyrinth of tissue-spaces through which at frequent intervals all red corpuscles float. If they are clean, firm, resilient, they pass through without interference. If obsolete they are broken up. In the recesses of the spleen-pulp, leucocytes overtake the laggards of the blood-fleet, attach their pseudopodia to them, draw them into their body-substance, digest them. The albuminous constituent of hæmoglobin they use, presumably, for their own nutrition. The iron-containing colouring matter they decompose, and excrete in two parts; the iron (perhaps combined with protein); the colouring matter, without iron, as the pigment, or an antecedent of the pigment, which the liver will excrete in bile. Hæmoglobin is undoubtedly the source of bilirubin, and general considerations lead to the conclusion that it is split into protein, iron, and iron-free pigment in the spleen; but the details of this process have never been checked by chemical analysis. Neither bile-pigment nor an iron compound can be detected in the blood of the splenic vein. The only evidence of the setting free of iron in the
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