QUARTERLY CHRONICLE. 37 



In ajjpearance not unlike the colourless blood-corpuscles, 

 these bodies at first appeared pale, with faintly granular con- 

 tents and ill-defined nucleus. But when placed in dilute 

 glycerine their aspect soon changed, owing to the retraction 

 at one spot of the contents from the now distinctly visible 

 membrane, the contents jJi'esenting a defined outline, whilst 

 at the same time the vacuole-like nucleus was also more dis- 

 tinctly seen. This condition, however, did not last long ; the 

 membrane soon bursting, the contents escaped in an elongated 

 form, and assumed the character of the well-known reniform 

 corpuscles, which are thus seen to arise from the direct trans- 

 formation of the contents of a cell. That this phenomenon is 

 a normal one, and indicative of a normal process of develoj)- 

 ment, is shown in the circumstance that the reniform cor- 

 puscles are found in sacculi, lodged in perfectly fresh muscle. 

 With regard to the structure of the reniform corpuscles, the 

 nucleus, as remarked by Hessling, rather appears like a divi- 

 sion of the protoplasm ; but, from the part it takes in the 

 scission of the corjDUScle, it must be regarded as a true 

 nucleus. It is, without doubt, vesicular, usually solitary, and 

 placed in the middle of the corpuscle towards its concave 

 side. Other smaller, probably fatty particles, or minute 

 vacuoles, are seen in the pointed extremities of the corpuscle. 

 The corpuscle does not seem to be furnished with a mem- 

 brane, the existence of Avhicli would scarcely be reconcilable 

 with the above-described mode of its genesis. Hessling states 

 that he has often witnessed division of the corpuscles. The 

 author has sometimes, in corpuscles from the smaller-sized 

 sacculi, noticed the appearance of a delicate line crossing the 

 nucleus, and probably betokening its division. Besides this, he 

 has frequently observed what may be regarded as the last 

 stage in the j^rocess of scission, viz., two corpuscles in close 

 apposition by their concave sides, and still attached to each 

 other at one end, but both of which presented the fully deve- 

 loped reniform shape. As nothing like a m.embrane could be 

 seen surrounding these twin corpuscles, he concludes that 

 the scission does not take place within a cell. 



The movements of the corpuscles appear to depend alto- 

 gether upon external agencies, such as currents in the fluid 

 in which they may be placed, or upon the molecular motion 

 or the minute brilliant particles to which some are attached 

 by delicate filaments. 



The corpuscles, when within the sacculus, are imbedded in 

 a matrix, which is subdivided into separate segments, which, 

 as long as they remain enclosed, have a polygonal shape from 

 their mutual pressure, but, when freed, assume a globular 

 form. 



