BED COEPUSCLES. 113 



of 3^0- f an inch, and in the ox, which is certainly not so 

 active, the diameter of the corpuscle is 4 ^Vo- f an inch. 

 Though this relation between the size of the blood-corpuscles 

 and muscular activity is not invariable, it is certain that the 

 higher we go in the great classes of animals, the smaller the 

 blood-corpuscle becomes ; the largest being found in the lowest 

 orders of reptiles, and the smallest in the mammalia. In the 

 blood of the invertebrates, with a few exceptions, 1 we find no 

 colored corpuscles. 



Table of Measurements of Red Corpuscles. 



This table is taken from the table of Mr. Gulliver, published in the Sydenham 

 edition of Hewson's Works, page 237. Nearly five hundred measurements were 

 made by Mr. Gulliver ; and of these, one hundred of the most important have been 

 selected. It will be observed that the diameter of the human blood-corpuscle is 

 greater than that generally given. It must be borne in mind that all these meas- 

 urements are mere approximations ; but as such they are useful, as showing the 

 relations of the corpuscles in different animals, and enabling us to distinguish 

 the blood of the human subject from that of some of the inferior animals; 

 a question which is often of vital importance. The measurements are all given 

 in fractions of an English inch ; and in making the selections, the common names 

 of the animals have been substituted for the technical names given hi the original. 



Diameter. 



57T5 

 ~5~Ttt 

 4600 

 4606' 



1 Note sur V Existence de Globules du Sang colores chez plusieurs d'animaux 

 invertebres. Par le Docteur CH. ROUGET. Journal de Physiologic, &c., 1859, 

 tome ii., p. 660. In this article Dr. Rouget cites a number of invertebrate ani- 

 mals, in the blood of which he has found corpuscular elements. This is opposed 

 to the general idea that corpuscles exist only in the blood of the vertebrates. 

 8 



