Scientific Intelligence. — FhysitHogy and ideology, 419 



pretty perfect ; lustre on the faces of the crystals, shining and me- 

 tallo-adamantine ; . on the cleavage faces feebly shining; opaque; 

 scratches apatite strongly, but is scratched by felspar : the hardness, 

 therefore, is about 5.8 ; specific gravity = 4.017. It is infusible, 

 •per se, before the blowpipe. Chemical composition. — From the ex- 

 periments of Gustav liose, this mineral appears to contain titanium 

 and lime. Gcognostic and geograpliic situations. — It occurs along 

 with crystallized chlorite and magnetic iron-ore, in chlorite-slate, 

 at Achmatowsk in the vicinity of Slatoust in the Urals. Namc.—^ 

 It is named Perowskite, in honour of M. Von Perowski, an intol- 

 liorent Russian mineralogist. 



PHYSIOLOGY AND ZOOLOGY. 



19. On the Corpuscles of the Blood. By Br Martin Barry. — . 

 The author, in the course of his researches in Embryology, detailed 

 in his '• third series,"* observed that some of the corpuscles of the 

 blood undergo progressive alterations in their structure. The cor- 

 puscles so altered ho believes to be of the same kind as those described 

 by Professor Owen ; and having found that the alterations in ques- 

 tion terminate in a separation of the corpuscles into globules, ho 

 thinks this fact confirms the idea of Professor Owen — that the blood- 

 disc undergoes spontaneous subdivision. The author farther ob- 

 served that the corpuscles of the blood, in certain altered states, un- 

 dergo rapid and incessant changes of fonii, which cannot be traced 

 to the action of neighbouring cilia. A corpuscle will sometimes as- 

 sume the figure of an hour-glass, as if it were preparing to divide 

 itself into two parts, but it instantaneously either regains its previous 

 form, or assumes a new one. These motions are incessant, and so 

 rapid that it is not easy to catch and delineate any of the resulting 

 forms ; they are compared to the writhings of an animal in pain. 

 The author has seen them in a rabbit, as late as two hours and a half 

 after death, and thinks it probable that they may continue for a 

 longer time, although, when under the microscope, they gradually, 

 and in a short time, cease ; the rapid changes of form, which are at 

 first apparent, passing into gentle undulations, and being succeeded 

 by an alternation of rest and motion. Should these facts be thought 

 to confirm the opinion of John Hunter, that the blood " has life 

 within itself," or ** acquires it in the act of forming organic bodies," 

 because its corpuscles in certain states exhibit ** vital actions," still 

 his assertion that ** the red globules" are the least important part 

 of the blood will appear to have no just foundation.t The author 

 finds that the phenomena attending what is called ** vital turgescence" 

 of tlie bloodvessels, depend not merely on an accumulation and stag- 

 nation of blood, but on changes in the condition of its corpuscles, 



• Vide page 84 of this volume of Philosophical Jounial. 



t Later observations, the author informs us, induce liiiu to believe the 

 rapid and incessant changes in the form of the corpuscles, to bo caused by • 

 contiguous cilia. — Edit. 



