DR. BEALEj ON THE TISSUES, 241 



SO that they are not more than half the dimensions of the 

 corpuscles when the animal is active. Dr. Beale concludes 

 that the nucleus of the frog's corpuscle consists of germinal 

 matter, and the coloured portion oi formed material ; and that 

 when the animal is active, this formed material is gradually 

 being dissolved away at the surface, while the new-formed 

 material is produced from within ; the oldest part of the 

 formed material being at the surface of the corpuscle, the 

 youngest in contact with the germinal matter from which it 

 was formed. 



Of the red corpuscles of mammalian animals, some are 

 destroyed by certain chemical reagents which have scarcely 

 any action on others ; and they are not all altered in the 

 same degree or with the same rapidity by the action of water, 

 weak alcohol, syrup, and various fluids, which probably only 

 produce a physical change. Neither do all the particles in a 

 drop of blood undergo the same changes immediately after it 

 has been drawn from the living body. 



The red corpuscles of man are formed from the germinal 

 matter of the white corpuscles. A particle set free in the 

 current of the blood would appropriate the nutrient material 

 and would grow. During this period it woTild be coloured 

 by carmine. Gradually, however, the formed material in- 

 creases, and the germinal matter in the centre dies. The 

 corpuscle now undergoes another series of changes. It begins 

 to be dissolved away at the surface, and at last is, without 

 doubt, entirely converted into substances which are dissolved 

 by the serum, and its place is taken by a new corpuscle. 



But the fact which seems to Dr. Beale to prove most con- 

 clusively the nature of the mammalian red blood-corpuscle is 

 this : — Guinea-pig^s blood, as is well known, crystallizes very 

 readily in tetrahedral crystals, and, if the process be carefully 

 watched in a drop of blood which has been treated with a 

 very little water, and covered with thin glass, and sometimes 

 even without the addition of water, certain corpuscles will be 

 seen to become angular, and four or eight prominent angles 

 will be observed, while others will exhibit the stellate appear- 

 ance familiar to every one. In this remarkable case, then, the 

 entire blood-corpuscle may be seen to crystallize. 



The author has seen one corpuscle gradually become one 

 tetrahedron. Now, how can there be a membrane here? 

 The whole process seems inconsistent with the existence of 

 such a structure. The crystals coalesce and larger crystals 

 are formed ; but no membranes can be seen. Two crystals 

 may come into close contact and gradually become incorpo- 

 rated, which could not take place if they were invested with 



