1891-92.] AMPHIBIA BLOOD STUDIES. 245 



the longitudinal stripe, or folding, described by Haycm and Bizzozero 

 and Torre and several refracting bodies in the nucleus, with one larger 

 and rounder than the rest to represent a nucleolus. 



The spindles undergo change quickly under the microscope with the 

 ordinary conditions of observation. Their protoplasm swells up and 

 disintegrates into a quantity of fine granules which partly dissolve and 

 leave a faint, somewhat irregular body in which the nucleus still persists. 

 The chromatin in the nucleus of the ordinary spindle is more irregular 

 in its arrangement and more fully developed than in the white cells, and 

 it does not form a network as in the latter or in red cells. 



As salient points in their character, Eberth emphasizes their colorless- 

 ness and their lack of amoeboid movement, both of which separate them 

 from the white and red cells. They are not young red blood cells, for 

 these even, in division, contain from their beginning hemoglobin. That 

 the fusiform cells do not contain even the slightest trace of haemoglobin 

 is shown by the fact that thick masses of them have not the faintest 

 color, which would not have been the case if some of them contained 

 haemoglobin. Hayem regarded them as haematoblasts in his first paper, 

 but the phenomena of Karyokinesis* in haemoglobin-holding blood cells 

 was then unknown, and it is probable that he mistook the true haemo- 

 globin-holding haematoblast for the forms intermediate between the 

 fusiform and the red cells. 



Eberth does not advance any view as to the origin or nature of the 

 fusiform elements, simply contenting himself with pointing out the 

 analogies between them and the platelets of mammalian blood. 



It will be seen by a comparison of the above views that von Reckling- 

 hausen and Hayem postulate the presence of haemoglobin in the fusiform 

 elements while Bizzozero and Torre and Eberth deny this. Again, 

 Hayem and Hlava state that it is contractile and this is expressly 

 opposed by Eberth. Hayem considers them to be haematoblasts, with 

 Hlava they are white corpuscles or a variety of the same, while with 

 Bizzozero and Eberth they can only be compared to the platelets of 

 mammalian blood. Such constitutes, in brief, the diversity of views as to 

 their nature. 



My own view is that these elements represent the remains of the 

 destroyed or broken up red cells and the following are the facts on which 

 the view is based : 



I. Their nuclei are oval and nearly the same in size as those of the 

 red cells (i6ju,x 14/* and 20/xX 12/* respectively). The difference between 



*In his more recent work (Uu Sang &c.) all reference to these points is omitted. 



