CT. 220.] LYMrri-CORPUSCLES. 515 



0"0025'" to o , oo55'" in size, and when examined in their native fluid, 

 appear homogeneous or granular, and contain a homogeneous nu- 

 cleus, generally indistinct, but slightly shining. The addition of 

 water changes their appearance, the nucleus and other contents he- 

 coming turbid from the deposition of a granular precipitate ; they 

 are rendered quite transparent and pale by acetic acid, and their 

 nucleus is then seen very distinctly, diminished in size and 

 strongly granular in appearance: or they even burst and discharge 

 their contents, and this change is frequently also effected by water, 

 particularly in the smaller cells, a transudation of clear drops of 

 albumen having previously taken place. As the lymph-cells are 

 spherical, dilute solutions occasion no very perceptible alterations 

 of form; but, on the other hand, evaporation of the fluid and 

 concentrated solutions produce a considerable diminution in their 

 bulk, and frequently also give them a dentated appearance (fig. 

 210, a). The remarkable phenomena of contraction in the white 

 corpuscles, in consequence of which they assume various toothed 

 forms up to an actually stellate form, were first indicated by 

 Wharton Jones (see § 15) ; and it is now pretty generally be- 

 lieved that these appearances belong to the cells as living 

 organisms. 



The size, number and form of the lymph-corpuscles is some- 

 what different in different places. In the commencements of 

 the chyle-vessels (which are particularly well adapted for such 

 investigations), and in the mesenteric lymphatics before they 

 enter the lymphatic glands, the chyle contains but few chyle- 

 corpuscles, and, in the smallest mesenteric vessels, which we are 

 able to see there, are frequently quite absent. In the larger 

 trunks, however, they are always present; and here they generally 

 appear as small corpuscles, measuring <roo2"' to o*oo3"' in di- 

 ameter, with an envelope which closely surrounds the small 

 nucleus, and often appear in the act of development, as if by the 

 apposition of granules. After the chyle has passed through the 

 mesenteric glands, the cells are more numerous and larger, so 

 that, in the chyle-vessels at the root of the mesentery (as well as 

 in the larger lymphatic trunks), numerous larger cells are found, 

 measuring up to 00055'", along with smaller ones of the same 

 kind as those just described. Simultaneously with this increase 

 in size and number, a more or less distinct multiplication of the 

 lymph -corpuscles by a process of partition is seen to take place, 

 at least in dogs, cats and rabbits. This is effected by the larger 

 cells becoming elongated, reaching o'Oo6'" and O'0o8'" in diameter, 



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