INVERTEBRATA, CRYPTOGAMIA, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 847 



regards the " cell-nests," Mr. Balfour observes that he noted " the 

 fusion of several ova into a syncytium, the subsequent increase in the 

 number of nuclei in the syncytium, the atrophy and absorption of a 

 portion of the nuclei, and the development of the remainder into the 

 germinal vesicles of ova." 



Micro-chemical Researches on Cell-miclei.* — Dr. Brandt has 

 been making some observations, from a micro-chemical point of view, 

 on cytods and cells. The researches of Miescher have shown that the 

 cell-nucleus consists of a special substance, nuclein, which is distin- 

 guished by the possession of phosphorus. Brandt treated some 

 Protamoebce with ten per cent, salt solution, and found that they broke 

 up altogether ; where nuclein is present a precipitate is left, and this, 

 which was found where Protozoa proper (that is, nucleated forms, and 

 not Protista or cytod forms) were acted on by the reagent, is regarded 

 by Brandt as being a carbo-hydrate allied to cellulose. We have 

 here therefore a valuable method to be applied in all cases where 

 the i^resence of a nucleus is disputed. 



Observations on the Living Cartilage Cell.f — W. Schleicher, 

 •whose paper on the division of cartilage cells has been already 

 noticed,! now investigates more fully the movements observed in 

 these cells and in their nuclei. 



The nucleus moves as a whole, vibrating (ballotter) from side to 

 side, either quite irregularly, or, if it is in contact with the edge of 

 the cell, regularly from right to left, and vice versa. The action is 

 caused by the solid elements in the protoplasm of the cell, which are 

 in constant vibration, communicating the movement to the nucleus. 

 The slight changes in form undergone by the surface of the latter are 

 due to the same cause. The solid elements within the nucleus (rods, 

 filaments, &c.), are, like those of the cell itself, in constant motion, by 

 virtue of which they cause slight changes of form in the nucleus, 

 which, from being spherical, may present slight tuberosities. The 

 movements may be augmented in intensity by raising the temperature 

 to 20°-25° C. 



Schleicher objects to the term "reticular" as applied to the refrac- 

 tile elements of the nucleus. He says that just as the cell-proto- 

 plasm is composed of two different substances, an almost liquid and 

 homogeneous matrix, and solid contractile elements, floating freely in 

 this liquid, so the nucleus consists of a nuclear fluid, and of solid con- 

 tractile elements like those of the cell-body, but separated from them 

 in the quiescent state of the cell by the nuclear membrane. 



Microcytes (very small Red Blood-corpuscles) in the Blood. § — 

 MM. Lepine and Germont state that in the blood of a patient suffering 

 from carcinoma of the stomach, they observed a considerable propor- 

 tion of globules varying in diameter from 2 to 5-lOOOths of a mm. 

 These bodies were spherical and by no means biconcave, but their 

 coloration was so slight that it was with some difficulty that they 



* ' Zeitschr. gesammt. Naturwiss.' (Giebel), lii. (1879) p. 120. 



t ' Bull. Acad. Koy. Sci. Belg.,' xlvii. (1879) p. 811. 



i This Journal, ante, p. 273. 



§ 'CR. Soc. Biol.' for 1877 (1879), p. 164. 



