420 SCIENCE PROGRESS. 



irregular outline, consisting usually of lobes linked together 

 by thread-like bonds which are composed almost entirely of 

 chromatin. It was at one time a question whether this 

 nucleus was a sign of degeneration and breaking down of the 

 cell, — was in fact a "fragmentation nucleus," — or whether 

 it was due to some form of reproduction by budding taking 

 place. Neither of these suppositions is now accepted ; the 

 diversity of shape of the nucleus is almost certainly attribut- 

 able to distortions produced in it by the extreme amoeboid 

 activity of the cell-body (35). 



The cell is a vigorously amoeboid one. It is also a 

 phagocyte. Halliburton and Brodie find that solutions 

 of certain nucleo-albumins kill and break up these 

 leucocytes very speedily, although without effect upon 

 the activity of ciliated cells from epithelia (63). There 

 is of course much fluid in the composition of these 

 mobile cells, but the granules embedded in them never 

 exhibit Brownian movement so long as the cell is healthy, 

 or even so long as it is alive (10). At death of the cell its 

 granules are at once given over to Brownian movement and 

 to such a degree as to produce in the whole cell a shimmer- 

 ing appearance. This phenomenon can be easily studied 

 in many cells of pus, which are often for the most part dead 

 leucocytes. In pus cells also irregular nuclei can be studied 

 which are really fragmented, sometimes curiously regularly 

 into rosette forms (10); a comparison of these forms of 

 degenerated nuclei with the irregular-shaped nuclei of the 

 active cells is instructive as to the great real difference 

 between the two, though both are multipartite. The 

 granules in this cell have been described by Ehrlich and 

 his pupils as neutrophil, under the impression that they 

 were not stained readily by "acid" dyes. Kanthack and 

 Hardy show that the granules are really oxyphil. They 

 point out that in some rodents the granule is especially 

 oxyphil, a fact that can be easily confirmed by any one 

 who will take the trouble to stain with a standard eosin 

 solution a dried film of rabbit's blood. The granulation in 

 these cells becomes particularly obvious and particularly 

 oxyphil in animals recovering from, or just recovered from, 



