86 ADDISON, ON BLOOD-COKPUSCLES. 



fixed or moveable^ so long as they preserve tlieir vital proper- 

 ties, have special susceptibilities ; they are not at the mercy 

 of every inorganic element vv'liich may assail them. In 

 every experiment wc have made with the corpuscles of 

 human blood, some have been found more altered in outline 

 than others, although swimming side by side in the same 

 current ; because, as we apprehend it, amongst a great 

 multitude of these bodies some are more susceptible than 

 others. AVe Avould avoid laying too much stress upon micro- 

 scopical observations ; but v/hen their evidence points in the 

 same direction with that of other facts, they are entitled to 

 full consideration. 



The whole of the evidence concurs in indicating that the 

 most striking distinction between the active elements of a fixed 

 parenchymatous organ and the active elements — the cor- 

 puscles — of the blood is that the former are grouped in fixed 

 positions and irrigated by the liquor sanguinis, whereas the 

 latter are mobile, in circulation, swimming in the liquor 

 sanguinis. And inasmuch as all cellular bodies, v.hether 

 fixed or moveable, have a vital or physiological property of 

 resistance in common, so therefore we look for evidence of a 

 resisting power in the corpuscles of blood.'^ At all events, 

 we know that morphia and laudanum may be taken by the 

 stomach so as to act upon the brain, v.dthout any known 

 evidence of disorder in the corpuscles of the blood. Our 

 microscopical observations show that neither morphia nor 

 laudanum has any interfering eftect upon the corpuscles of 

 blood ; and the conclusion we di'avv^ from our investigation 

 is that — 



The liquor sanguinis may be altered in various ways — by 

 an unwholesome diet, by medicines and poisons, by sub- 

 stances taken into the stomach, so as to influence the elements 

 of some fixed organ — before interfering -svith the properties 

 of the corpuscles of the blood. 



Supposing this conclusion established, how, it may be 

 asked, are we to know when the corpuscles of the blood are 

 interfered with ? What are the signs or symptoms of au 

 injurious action upon these bodies as distinguished from the 

 liquor sanguinis? These questions Ave hope to attempt to 

 answer on a future occasion. 



* Gulstonian Lectures, 1859, vide •'British MetiicalJournai,' April, Mav, 

 ^c, 1859. 



