1881.J 



MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 



219 



paper announced for the evening, entitled : 

 " Blood, Leucocytes and Pus." 



He stated that, notwithstanding blood- 

 corpuscles had been examined under the 

 microscope for the past 200 years, not un- 

 til quite recently had their real structure 

 been ascertained. The method for exa- 

 mining blood was thus explained : " Take 

 a very small drop, mingle with it a 40 per 

 cent, solution of bichromate of potash ; 

 and, to prevent evaporation, after it has 

 been spread thinly upon the sHde, sur- 

 round it with a ring of oil, then apply the 

 cover-glass." The average size of the red 

 corpuscle was given as s^-^j of an inch. 

 Their various forms — regular, irregular, 

 rosette, scalloped, crenated, thorn-apple, 

 and stellate shapes, were exhibited 

 by diagrams, and the causes leading 

 thereto, commented upon. " Aberrations, 

 we said, have led to mistakes in sup- 

 posing the corpuscle to be granular." The 

 coalescence of corpuscles, giving rise to 

 fantastic groups, was shown. The cor- 

 puscle at times, exhibits a central vacuole, 

 or a number of them, which are round or 

 roundish, with now and then some gran- 

 ular matter enclosed. The causes leading 

 to the " paUng " of the corpuscles, was 

 explained, and the microscopic, internal 

 appearence of them shown. The dotted 

 net-work, with terminal threads, lost in 

 the periphery of the corpuscle, was shown 

 by diagrams and by specimens under the 

 microscope. This net-work, it was ex- 

 plained, is indentical with that of the 

 amoeba, as described by Heitzmann. Chan- 

 ges constantly take place in the threads and 

 dots, while they are under observation, — 

 threads altering their lengths, dots chang- 

 ing positions. The double-contoured 

 rings, called ghosts, were referred to. The 

 ideas of different investigators as to the 

 nature of this internal structure of the cor- 

 puscles, were given. The essayest inclin- 

 ed to Heitzmann's theory that the net- 

 work is living matter, or bioplasm, and the 

 granules, the contractile substance. This 

 would m.ake every corpuscle an indepen- 

 dent, living body, capable of assuming 

 many shapes. 



Almost all investigators agree, said the 

 doctor, " that the colored blood-corpus- 

 cles of birds, reptiles and fishes have a nu- 

 cleus, while in man there is none, except 

 in the developmental stage." 



The white corpuscles were there des- 

 cribed, and the part they play in leukemia 

 and pyemia fully explained. It was shown 

 that the red corpuscle is decolorized in the 

 human bodvand there becomes a "leuco- 



cyte," "white corpuscle," "pus-corpus- 

 cle." He then gave Dr. Rollin Gregg's 

 illustration of a boil, in which the stranded 

 red corpuscles are changed into pus-corp- 

 uscles, by having the haematin washed 

 out, while they escape from the vessels 

 into the integument, losing their vitality 

 and becoming pus-corpuscles. 



The manner in which the red corpuscle 

 is formed, in the mesenteric glands, and 

 how a chyle-corpuscle becomes a well 

 developed red blood-corpuscle, was ex- 

 plained. It was shown that the average 

 life of a red blood-corpuscle is about six 

 weeks ; that 500,000 of them are made 

 every minute ; that as many die and are 

 cast out of the body as are manufactured ; 

 that when this elimination is not perfect, 

 disease follows, — pyemia, etc. When an 

 unusual number of white corpuscles are 

 found floating in the blood, it is because 

 of the serum being too thin, — too great a 

 number of red corpuscles are deprived of 

 their hasmatin — the water penetrates the 

 corpuscles, distends them into globules 

 when they become dead bodies, which, if 

 not cast off, become putrid, escape from 

 the vessels into the tissues, and cause pye- 

 mia. Pyemia was next dwelt upon, and 

 the manner in which painless abscesses are 

 quickly formed, explained. 



After the reading of the paper, the cir- 

 culation of the blood in the mesenterium 

 of a living frog was shown by Dr. Krack- 

 owizer; pus and blood globules by Dr, 

 Gleason, and the circulation in the gills of 

 a newt, by the Secretary. 



The paper was then discussed by Prof. 

 Ford, Prof. Clum, Dr. Krackowizer and 

 the Secretary. 



Thad. S. Up de Graff, 



Secretary. 



WELLESLEY COLLEGE (MASS.) 



The October meeting of the Society was 

 held, the President, Miss S. F. Whiting in 

 the chair. This was the first regular 

 meeting of the College year. The time 

 was chiefly occupied by Miss Whiting 

 with a brief tribute to the memory of Mr. 

 H. F. Durant, the founder of the College, 

 who, though his name never appeared in 

 connection with the Society, was largely 

 instrumental in its organization and had 

 ever been its most enthusiastic and gene- 

 rous supporter ; sparing neither pains nor 

 expense in his efforts to further the inter- 

 ests of the Society. 



About thirty slides were exhibited by the 



