1882.] 



MICKOSCOPICAL JOUENAL. 



235 



who has discovered that all narcotics 

 — opium and its preparations, hash- 

 eesh, etc., as well as tobacco — act in 

 a peculiar manner upon the colored 

 corpuscles of the blood, producing 

 the phenomenon styled crenation ; 

 that is, the margin of the corpuscle, 

 instead of possessing the absolute 

 regularity of margin noticed in the 

 condition of health, presents a series 

 of scallops somewhat irregular in their 

 distribution. When viewed by oblique 

 light under the microscope, this ap- 

 pearance is found to be due to the 

 conversion of the corpuscle into a 

 minute sac, apparently containing 

 some hundreds of spherical bodies 

 about one four-thousandth of a milli- 

 metre in diameter. In a few hours 

 the sac ruptures and the imprisoned 

 germs or organisms escape into the 

 surrounding plasma to form bacteria 

 when the conditions are favorable. 

 A few such crenated corpuscles, in 

 the proportion of one to three hun- 

 dred and fifty, occur in the circula- 

 tion of persons in normal health, not 

 addicted to narcotics, but in the opi- 

 um and tobacco habits, when of long 

 standing, the ratio is sometimes as 

 high as one degenerated corpuscle to 

 ten healthy ones, and often attains 

 the figure of one to twenty-five or 

 thirtv * ******* 



" An incident illustrating the sequel 

 of this appearance in the blood oc- 

 curred a few months ago in the office 

 of a manufacturing optician of this 

 city. As the professor of microscopy 

 in one of our medical colleges 

 dropped in, a gentleman of evidently 

 large wealth and finished intellectual 

 culture was just leaving the office 

 with a cigar between his lips. He 

 was a wealthy amateur, and had 

 selected a valuable microscope, using 

 a drop of blood from his own finger 

 as a test object. The instrument was 

 still adjusted and the slide still be- 

 neath the lens. The professor glanced 

 at it ; he moved the slide to and fro, 

 so as to study one field after another ; 

 then counted a few fields, and made 

 a rapid computation. The optician 



looked on in astonishment. ' That, 

 gentleman is one of our best custom- 

 ers,' he said ; 'buys more heavily 

 than half a dozen professors.' ' And 

 this is a drop of his blood ? ' inquired 

 the man of science musingly. The 

 purveyor of lenses assented. ' Very 

 well,' replied the professor, ' tell your 

 best customer, if you can without 

 impertinence, that unless he stops 

 smoking at once he has not many 

 months to live.' But he did not stop. 

 A few weeks later he went to Europe, 

 thinking a sea voyage might recruit 

 his wasted energies. 



" In a few weeks more his death 

 was announced by telegraph from 

 Paris." 



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