The solids are almost entirely organic matter, the inorganic salts in the corpuscles amounting to less than 4 per cent. In 100 parts of dried organic matter of the corpuscles of human blood there are:
| Hæmoglobin, | 90.54 |
| Proteid substance, | 8.67 |
| Lecithin, | .54 |
| Cholestrin, | .25 |
The blood is distributed as follows in round numbers:
| In the heart, lungs, large arteries and veins, | About one-fourth. |
| In the liver, | About,, one-fourth.,, |
| In the skeletal muscles, | About,, one-fourth.,, |
| In the other organs, | About,, one-fourth.,, |
The average proportion of the principal constituents of the blood in 1,000 parts is:
| Water, | 784 | |
| Red corpuscles (solid residue), | 130 | |
| Albumen serum, | 70 | |
| Saline matter, | 6 | .03 |
| Extractive fatty matter, | 7 | .77 |
| Fibrine, | 2 | .20 |
The chemical composition of hæmoglobin is:
| | | Carb. | | Hyd. | Iron. | | Nit. | | Oxy. | | Sulph. |
| | | 54 | .2 | | 7 | .2 | 0 | .42 | | 16 | .0 | | 21 | .5 | | 6 | .7 |
| Mucine, | | 52 | .2 | | 7 | .0 | | | 12 | .6 | | 28 | .2 | | |
| Proteids, | | 51 | .5 | | 6 | .9 | | | 15 | .2 | | 20 | .9 | | 0. |
| | to | 54 | .5 | to | 7 | .3 | | to | 17 | .0 | to | 23 | .5 | to | 2 | .0 |