THE BLOOD AND THE LYMPH. 707 



persons (in consequence of an absorption of the fat of the body), it 

 seems to be, at all events, very frequent. The colorless cells of the 

 white blood-corpuscles are derived from the chyle ; and may, conse- 

 quently, be termed the chyle- or lymph- corpuscles of the blood. Some 

 of them are uninuclear, and correspond in all respects with the small 

 cellular elements of the chyle (vide 221) ; some multinuclear, having 

 an average size of 0-005 of a line, in which case 

 they so closely resemble pus-corpuscles, that it 

 is quite impossible to distinguish the one from 

 the other. The larger corpuscles are rarely as 

 granular as the smaller, usually tolerably homo- 

 geneous, often with clear contents, so that their 

 two or three, rounded, minute nuclei are at once 

 apparent.* Should this not be the case, acetic acid or water brings 

 the nuclei distinctly into view by rendering the contents clear, of which 

 occasionally a drop escapes from the ruptured cell; at the same time, 



FIG. 292. Colorless blood-corpuscles, or lymph-corpuscles of the blood : a, 6, smaller 

 cells, such as are found in the thoracic duct, viewed on the side (a), and on the edge (ft) ; 

 c, c, the same with visible nucleus; rf, rf, larger cells with nuclei multiple ab origine e,e, e, the 

 same after having been acted upon by acetic acid, the nuclei disintegrated or becoming so. 



* [With regard to the appearances presented by the " nucleus" of the colorless corpus- 

 cle, Mr. Wharton Jones (1. c. p. 07 for the Frog, p. 72 for Man, the Horse, and the Ele- 

 phant) shows very clearly that the singleness or multiplicity of this body depends entirely 

 upon the strength of the acetic acid used to bring it out, and we can fully confirm his state- 

 ment so far as our own observations have gone. If the blood of Man, in fact, be diluted 

 first with water, and then only very dilute acetic acid be added, the "nuclei" of the color- 

 less corpuscles will all, or almost all, be circular, with even edges. If, on the other hand, 

 strong acetic acid be added at once, every variety of form, from mere notching, to apparent 

 division into two, three, or four smaller ones, will be found. " I am satisfied, however, that 

 this is, in both cases (granule-cell and nucleated cell) merely an appearance produced by 

 the shrivelling together of the walls of the single cellscform nucleus, in consequence of the 

 action of the acetic acid. 



" It is proper to observe, that I have come to this conclusion, only after having particu- 

 larly tested the point by repeated, careful, prolonged, and varied observations. Nor is the 

 determination of the point of small moment, as on the appearance of a multiple nucleus, 

 which I have thus shown to be artificially produced, and on a similar, but I believe equally 

 artificially produced appearance of a multiple nucleus in the pus-corpuscle, a particular 

 view has been founded as to the first formation of the nucleus, and, indeed, as to cell- 

 development generally." (Wharton Jones, 1. c., pp. 67-S.) 



It will be observed that in the text Professor Kdlliker admits that the multiple " nuclei" 

 may be still further broken up by the action of reagents. 



The existence of any difference of specific gravity between the colorless and the red 

 corpuscles of the blood may be doubted ; their relative positions in masses of blood, to 

 which reference is made above, being fully accounted for by the aggregation of the red 

 corpijscles into rolls. 



With regard to the blood-corpuscles of the Invertebrata, Mr. Wharton Jones's Memoir, 

 above cited, should be consulted, as it contains the only complete account of them extant. 

 The statement in the text, that Jlmphioxus has no blood-corpuscles, is incorrect. It is, how- 

 ever, altogether exceptional among the Vertebrata, as its corpuscles are entirely of the 

 colorless kind. Tns.] 



