LEUCOCYTES, OR WHITE CORPUSCLES, 121 



sibility, &c., which may be restored, however, by supplying 

 it again with the vivifying fluid. We shall see when we 

 come to treat of the function of Respiration, that one great 

 distinction between the corpuscular and fluid elements of the 

 blood, is the great capacity which the former have for ab- 

 sorbing gases. Direct observations have shown that blood 

 will absorb 10 to 13 times as much oxygen as an equal bulk 

 of water. This is dependent almost entirely on the presence 

 of the red corpuscles. 1 As all the tissues are continually 

 absorbing oxygen and giving off carbonic acid, a property 

 which is immediately essential to a continuance of vitality, 

 a great function of the corpuscles is to carry this principle to 

 all parts of the body. In the present state of our knowledge, 

 this is the only w r ell-defined function which can be attributed 

 to the red corpuscles, and it undoubtedly is the principal one. 

 They have an affinity, though not so great, for carbonic acid, 

 which, after the blood has circulated in the capillaries of the 

 system, takes the place of the oxygen. In some experiments 

 performed a few years ago on the effects of hemorrhage 

 and the location of the " lesoin de respirer" it was shown 

 that one of the results of removal of blood from the system, 

 was a condition of asphyxia, dependent upon the absence of 

 these respiratory elements. 2 The following may then be 

 stated as the principal function of the red corpuscles of the 

 blood : 



They are respiratory organs ; taking up the greater part 

 of the oxygen which is absorbed by the blood in its passage 

 through the lungs, and conveying it to the tissues, where it 

 is given up, and its place supplied by carbonic acid. 



Leucocytes, or White Corpuscles of the Blood. In addition 

 to the red corpuscles of the blood, this fluid always contains 

 a number of colorless bodies, globular in form, in the sub- 



1 ROBIN and VERDEIL, op. cit., tome ii., p. 32. 



2 See an article by the Author in the American Journal of the Medical Sciences, 

 October, 1861. 



