326 Mr. Gulliver on certain Peculiarities of form in the 



under which these particles were produced; and although 

 my researches have not hitherto proved perfectly satisfactory 

 in this respect, yet it appears to me that they afford evidence 

 that the blood corpuscles have a contractility or irritability 

 inherent in themselves, which may continue some time after 

 their removal from the body, and enable them to assume 

 permanently the very anomalous forms which I have de- 

 scribed and figured. In some instances a large number of 

 the red granulated particles appeared to be produced by the 

 irregular shrinking of the smooth discs*, in others there was 

 a manifest contraction of the particles while under examina- 

 tion in their own serum f, and the corpuscles were very 

 quickly and remarkably modified in figure when extravasated 

 and subjected to contact with the neighbouring tissues J, 

 evincing the readiness with which the blood discs assume 

 new forms, perhaps connected with the plastic force. It has 

 appeared to me also, that in some cases modifications in 

 the shape of the blood discs might be attributable in great 

 measure to violent action of the heart produced by the fright 

 and struggles of the animal ; for when the blood was ob- 

 tained without at all alarming him the irregular corpuscles 

 were not numerous, while these particles were seen abun- 

 dantly in blood which was taken when the deer was con- 

 fined, and made every effort to struggle and get loose, so 

 that the circulation became greatly accelerated. In the 

 Muntjac, a very shy and wild animal, the peculiar particles 

 were always seen in great numbers ; but from the more docile 

 Mexican, Porcine, and Persian Deer, a drop of blood could 

 occasionally be obtained before the animal was aware of the 

 operation, and in such cases the irregular shapes were ob- 

 served but sparingly. 



However, although I am disposed to think that in some 

 ruminants, particularly in those just mentioned, the pecu- 

 liarities in the particles were more or less influenced by the 

 state of the circulation ; yet, from the result of a few trials on 

 other animals, it did not appear that fright or violent muscular 

 exertion was always capable of producing the singular forms 

 in question, although it seems to me that the previous ob- 

 servations render it worthy of inquiry, how far the blood discs 

 may be affected by the state of the circulation, or their con- 

 tractility influenced through the medium of the nervous sy- 

 stem. That the blood particles do contract and assume 

 various forms, is certain ; but whether this be a vital or merely 

 a physical phenomenon, is a subject of much interest, and well 

 deserving of new researches. There appears to me to be some 

 good grounds for believing that the blood corpuscles do pos- 

 sess an inherent power of contractility. 



See Lond. and Edinb. Phil. Mag. for February, 1840. 



f Ibid. t Ibid. 



