THE DESTRUCTION OF LEUCOCYTES. 143 



lympliocytes and the irregular nuclei found in other forms of leu- 

 cocytes. The protoplasm of these ingested cells evidently soon 

 disappears, though in a few instances it has been observed still 

 preseot, and is even then quite distinguishable from that of 

 the surrounding cell. The nucleus persists much longer, but 

 gradually loses its staining power, and may, by careful focussing, 

 be detected after it has lost all affinity for staining reagents, 

 in some otherwise apparently empty vacuoles. 



The appearances above described were so numerous and well 

 marked in the glands of that particular animal that they could 

 hardly have been overlooked, and naturally gave rise to the idea 

 that the occurrence might possibly be of a pathological nature, 

 although, so far as one could judge, the animal seemed to be in 

 perfectly good health. 



I have since examined lymphatic glands from another dog, 

 a cat, and from man. In all those, except that of the cat, I 

 have detected appearances similar to those described, but in no 

 case are they so plentiful or so well marked as in the first one. 

 Indeed, in some sections they are so scarce that very careful 

 search is required to detect them. 



As already mentioned, I have seen no reference to, or any 

 description of, such a process going on in lymphatic glands. Dr 

 W. B. Drummond (2), in a recent paper on htemolymph glands, 

 alludes to the finding of nuclear remains in some of the 

 phagocytic cells found there, but makes no further comment 

 upon them. One would hardly perhaps be justified in placing 

 such destruction of leucocytes as a normal function of lymphatic 

 elands, on the strength of these limited observations, but it 

 seems advisable to place them on record, pending a more 

 extended investigation into the matter, which will include a 

 much larger number of glands and a greater variety of 



animals. 



The two appended photo-micrographs, for which I have to 

 thank Dr J. H. Teacher, each shows one of these large phagocytes 

 containing an ingested cell. In No 1, part of the protoplasm 

 of the ingested leucocyte still persists ; and the true nucleus 

 of the phagocyte is seen applied in a crescentic form to the vacuole 

 in which the cell undergoing digestion lies. In No 2, the 

 protoplasm of the ingested cell has disappeared, but its horse- 



VOL. XXXV. (N.S. VOL. XV.)— JAN. 1901. K 



