MISCELLANEOUS NOTP^S 363 



blue. The majority, however, had centres more of a pale lilac than a blue colour and 

 contained faintly staining material between their capsules and their centres (fc). What may 

 be called large and intermediate forms (/)/*) of a similar type were present, and, in the 

 former, the capsule was not always so defined, the appearance being rather that of a halo 

 of more faintly staining substance surrounding a deeply stained spherical core (c). Very few 

 forms with concentric rings (</) were observed and only one or two of the large " solid " 

 coccus-like type (e) shown in the drawing A, which so well illustrates the paper by Horrocks 

 and Howell. One did not see the type with an indented centre, crescent-shaped, and 

 enclosing a small circular body of which they speak, but the forms, apparently in process 

 of division, were present (/'). I am not sure that these, especially when occurring in 

 groups of three, do not really represent fused forms. Bodies which may be described as -j-yngs of 

 fragmented were encountered. Some of these have only a chip, as it were, broken from "bodies" 

 them or look like biscuits from which one has bitten out a piece (;/). Distinctly oval °"' 

 forms were seen, usually of considerable size [h] and also a curious oblong appearance 

 which it is difficult to describe but which is well shown in (i). There can be no doubt 

 these forms consist of the same substance as the bodies. For convenience I will call them 

 the oblong forms. Again, small forms measuring 3 ^i in diameter were met with, one of 

 which showed a segmentation of the central spot into four (k), another no dark centre, 

 but dark spots at its pei'iphery (/) and yet another a kind of inner capsule. Many 

 of the smallest forms were homogeneous showing no dark centres whatever, while some 

 of the larger forms with distinct cores showed granular material between their capsules 

 and their centres. In this there were sometimes small blue spots or granules. Others 

 again were irregular in shajDe, being what may be called "knobbed" bodies {ni). 



Like Horrocks and Howell, I found no trace of chromatin in these bodies, but 

 I noticed that, lying free, there was a considerable amount of amorphous-looking material 

 which took on a pale lilac stain like some of the smaller bodies. This was more 

 plentiful in that part of the film where the bodies occurred, for I did not find them 

 equally distributed throughout, and I could not help thinking that there was some seen in the 

 connection between the bodies and this material, i.e. that they might represent portions bodies 

 of it which, owing to the action of the circulating blood, had assumed a spherical shape 

 just as do fragments of macrophages. Still, it was difficult to account for the concentric 

 rings on this hypothesis, and altogether I found it impossible to come to any conclusion 

 regarding them. At the same time, further study convinced me that the smaller 

 homogeneous bodies, at least those whose staining reactions and definite form readilj^ 

 distinguished them from blood plates, are in reality derived from the irregular amorphous 

 masses. One can, as it were, see them budding and breaking off from the latter which 

 themselves are very curious and interesting, containing, as they often do, an irregular 

 central cavity and being furnished with edges which resemble the outline of a verj- 

 rugged and indented sea-coast {«.). The following are the measurements of the various 

 forms of bodies found ; — 



Spherical. These ranged from '7 ^i to 5'25/i in diameter, l'5/^i was common and ' 

 2'25u even more so, the majority being of this dimension ; 3u and 3-3u were, 



'^ ; . . ' r A' . Measurements 



however, not at all rare. Fused or dividing forms frequently measured 3;u each. This was 

 also the size of some small " solid " coccus-like forms, four of which were found lying 

 close together. One so-called oblong form measured 6'75^ in length by 3^ in breadth, 

 and another, which lay end to end with it, 4-5^ by 3/i. It will be seen then that the bodies 

 are pleomorphic although quite distinct from all the blood elements and readily recognisable 

 as specific entities. As I only found them in one film out of the four sent, it occurred 



