Miscellaneous. 155 



exposed in the clearest manner, appearing thick, oval, or spherical, 

 and much smaller than their envelopes. Several other vegetable acids 

 and sulphurous acid may be used with the same effect ; and the nu- 

 clei may also be readily shown by gently moistening with the breath 

 some dry blood on a slip of glass. But when the blood-corpuscles 

 of man and other mammals, not excepting the oval discs of the Ca- 

 melidce (See Med. Chir. Trans, vol. xxiii., and Lancet, vol. ii. p. 101, 

 1840-41) are treated by any of the means just specified, and pre- 

 cisely under the same circumstances, no similar nuclei will be ob- 

 served, unless in very young embryos; for the blood-corpuscles of 

 these enclose a temporary and obvious nucleus which corresponds to 

 the persistent nucleus of the corpuscle of the oviparous Vertebrata. 

 As stated by the author in the Appendix to Gerber's ' Anatomy/ 

 pp. 13 and 30, this does not prove that the corpuscles of mammals 

 have no central matter, although he is induced to infer that these 

 corpuscles have no nucleus like that contained in the corpuscles of 

 the lower vertebrate animals. 



The author then gives two figures to show the effect of several 

 reagents, and especially of repeated washing with water till all the 

 colouring matter is removed, on the corpuscles of Mammalia and of 

 the lower Vertebrata. He shows, as he had formerly stated (Phil. 

 Mag. for Feb. 1840, S. 3. vol. xvi. p. 106, 107), that the corpuscles 

 of man, for example, are merely reduced about one -third or one- 

 fourth in size, after completely removing their colouring matter by 

 repeated additions of large quantities of water, when they appear 

 very faint, flat and pellucid, presenting nothing like a nucleus, even 

 when treated with acids and other reagents ; nor do these washed 

 blood-discs agree in any respect with the particles which had been 

 commonly described as the nuclei of the blood-corpuscles. Now when 

 all the colouring matter is removed in like manner from the corpuscles 

 of any of the lower Vertebrata, the goose for example, the envelopes 

 and nuclei remain, and are easily distinguishable as distinct parts, both 

 appearing circular, and the nuclei with its component molecules or 

 nucleoli. When exposed by acid the same nuclei present an oval 

 form. Dilute muriatic acid scarcely affects the form of the envelope, 

 but shows the nucleus with an appearance of granular matter around 

 it. The same acid makes the corpuscles of a mammal appear 

 puckered or shrunk, notched at the edges or granulated ; some pre- 

 senting a distinct central spot, irregular at the margin like a gra- 

 nular nucleus ; others remaining smooth but misshapen, generally 

 with a dark or brilliant central spot, according to the focus in which 

 they are viewed. — Abridged from Mr. Gullivers Contributions to Mi- 

 nute Anatomy, Lond. and Edinb. Phil. Mag. for August. 



ON THE STRUCTURE OF FIBRINE. 



The author, referring to his description and plates in the English 

 version of Gerber's ' Anatomy of the Fibres/ and the organic germs 

 or nucleated nuclei in pale or colourless clots of fibrine, figures 

 similar corpuscles, though of a ruddy colour, in the red parts often 

 found towards the edges of such fibrinous clots. He is disposed to 



