154. G. F, DOWDESWELL, 
On some Arprarances of the Rev Bioop-corpuscies @f Man 
and other Vurtesrata. “By G. F. DowprswenL, B.A. 
(Cantab), F.C.S., F.L.8., &c. 
Some time since, in examining the action of septic matter, I 
observed that when blood of man or the dog was treated on the 
warm stage of the microscope with an aqueous extract of putrid 
muscle, the red corpuscles shortly exhibited a curious phenome- 
non, throwing out from their surfaces numerous processes, which, 
in some cases formed a rosary of minute beads, in others fine un- 
divided filaments, generally terminating in one or more drop- 
lets, and assuming a bifurcated or racemose appearance; they 
were of very variable size and form, from mere diminutive glo- 
bules or protuberances on its surface up to five or six times in 
length the diameter of the corpuscle. These processes were 
evidently contractile, sometimes, from a considerable length, 
retracting suddenly into a globule, or being withdrawn entirely 
into the substance of the parent corpuscle; the detached par- 
ticles, too, would coalesce into one larger globule. After a time, 
varying, according to circumstances, from a few minutes up to 
half an hour or so, they all became detached, forming a number 
of small spherical bodies of various size, undistinguishable from 
Micrococci; or short slender filaments, identically similar in 
appearance to Bacteria or Vibrios, and in incessant molecular 
movement swarmed over the field of view. About the same 
time, usually, the hull or stroma of the red corpuscles became 
colourless and difficult to distinguish, for all the reagents with 
which I obtained these processes dissolve out the hemoglobin. 
In the finer filaments and minute globules any colouration is diffi- 
cult to distinguish clearly, but when these coalesce into a larger 
body the colour becomes apparent, and it is most evident in the 
large processes which are formed in the blood of the frog, 
under the action of a 5-per cent. solution of ammonium chromate 
in the cold. When the colouring matter of the red corpuscles 
is dissolved out, and they disappear, the processes are also lost to 
sight ; but upon treatment of the preparation with magenta or 
other staining fluid, both the hull of the red corpuscles and the 
processes too, become stained, and again apparent. On first ob- 
serving this phenomenon J was in doubt whether it was to be 
regarded asa physiological and vital process, or merely as a 
physical one. Shortly afterwards Francis Darwin’s paper on 
the “ Protoplasmic Filaments of the Teasel’’! appeared, and it 
seemed to me that there must be an intimate connection between 
? This Journal, N.S., No, lxvii, July, 1877, pp. 245—272, 
