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side of the inquiry, that I have by any means carried out my 
object, for the subject has yet to be approached by the 
methods of analysis, with the view of recognising in this or 
that separable portion of the cgrpuscle this or that proximate 
chemical substance, in place of the tentative method of intro- 
ducing reagents in order to observe how they may possibly 
act. At the same time, whilst we are waiting for chemists to 
give us some precise tests or series of reactions by which such 
highly complex bodies as those forming the blood-corpuscles 
can be recognised under such restricted conditions as micro- 
scopic inquiry involves, my results may not be uninteresting 
as bearing on the physical structure of the corpuscles, and as 
indicating a method of applying reagents ‘in micro- ~chemical 
research, “which has hitherto been but little used. 
1. The use of gases and vapours as a means of micro- 
chemical research.—By means of the gas-chamber, Kihne, 
von Recklinghausen, Boettscher, Stricker, and Schweigger- 
Seidel have studied the action of oxygen, and more especially 
carbonic acid, on cilia, leucocytes, and the red blood-cor- 
puscles. I have found a modification of one used by 
Schweigger-Seidel the most cleanly and convenient for the 
employment of a variety of gases. A is a watch-glass-shaped 
wg s 
iin i> 
piece of glass, with its edges ground flat and cemented (by 
paraffin, Canada balsam, putty, or whatever may best suit the 
case) to a flat piece of glass(B). Dis an aperture in the dome 
or convex portion of the glass, with its edges also ground flat, 
and of considerable breadth (c). On to this an ordinary thin 
cover glass is placed, with the blood or other object to be 
examined on its lower surface, the rim c having been first 
smeared with oil, so as to render the closing of the aperture 
