Blood Corpuscles of the Mammiferous Animals. 327 



The following paper, already referred to, contains a de- 

 scription and figure of the peculiar corpuscles before men- 

 tioned. I have since seen similar forms in the blood of some 

 other animals; and recently in one of the carnivora (Genetta 

 tygrina) I observed the crescentic, spear-shaped, and sigmoid 

 particles in great numbers. The animal was so difficult to 

 secure, that its circulation must have been much excited before 

 the blood was obtained. In a second trial, when the blood of 

 this genet was examined immediately, the peculiar corpuscles 

 were not abundant, although in the course of a few hours there 

 were scarcely any other particles to be observed, and the forms 

 shown in the wood-cut remained until putrefaction began. 



It will be seen from the figure, that the appearance of many 

 of these corpuscles is very similar to that of the elongated 

 cells represented by Schwann as concerned in the growth of 

 certain tissues. Dr. Martin Barry has lately noticed that the 

 blood corpuscles in certain cases undergo rapid changes ; and 

 he announces that the muscular tissue, and the cells of the 

 chorion, are formed from the corpuscles of the blood*. The 

 pus globules, which have recently been regarded as organic 

 cells, have been frequently considered in this country as trans- 

 formed blood discs, and on the continent M. Gendrin an- 

 nounced that he had actually seen the blood corpuscle 

 changed into the pus globule f. 



Observations on the Blood Corpuscles of certain Species of the 

 Genus Cervus. By GEORGE GULLIVER, F.R.S., Assistant 

 Surgeon to the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards. 



(Read before the Royal Society, Feb. 6, 1840.) 



The blood corpuscles hitherto described in the vertebrate 

 animals, have either a circular or an elliptical form. Till the 

 late discovery by M. Mandl, of the latter shape in the parti- 

 ticles of the Dromedary and Alpaca, and my more recent 

 observation of the same form in the Vicugna and GuanacoJ, 

 the blood discs were supposed to be circular in all the mam- 

 malia, and the oval corpuscles to be confined to the lower di- 

 visions of the vertebrate animals. 



I have now to describe some peculiar forms of the blood 

 corpuscle, which I believe have not hitherto been observed 



* Proc. Royal Society, May 7, 1840. 



t See my Researches on Suppuration, Phil. Mag,, Sept. 1838; on the 

 Softening of Fibrine, Med. Ch. Trans, v. xxii. ; on Pus, London Medical 

 Gazette 18391840, pp. 201 and 415. 



J See Dublin Medical Press, Nov. 27, 1839. My paper on the Blood 

 and Pus particles of the Camelidce, just published in the twenty-third 

 volume of the " Transactions of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical So- 

 ciety," was read before that Society, Nov. 26, 1839. 



