THE BLOOD-CORPUSCLES. 179 



laminae, or wrinkled and stippled shreds ; their transverse diameter 

 was so diminished that it was scarcely measurable ; the nuclei 

 were distinctly visible ; they did not, however, present the ordinary 

 form, but occurred as dark granular heaps, which distantly re- 

 sembled bone corpuscles. In both cases the serum separated 

 very completely from the clot ; both kinds of blood restored the 

 blue to reddened litmus paper, but only that of the frog which had 

 been exposed to the action of the salt reacted on turmeric paper. 

 The heart of the killed or asphyxiated animals exhibited the 

 singular phenomenon, that, when pinched with forceps, it was 

 thrown into a state of rigid spasm, and by discharging its blood, 

 became perfectly white. In the frogs which had breathed 

 carbonic acid, the lungs were extraordinarily distended, bloodless, 

 and almost colourless ; while in the frogs submitted to the action 

 of the salts, they were collapsed and of a cherry purplish colour. 

 In a saturated solution of the alkaline bicarbonates, the frogs died 

 in five minutes ; while in a moderately diluted solution, they often 

 remained alive for an hour and a half. 



When frogs were treated in a precisely similar manner with 

 solutions of alkaline protocarbonates, stoppages of the blood-current 

 in the capillaries were also very soon observed, but no change 

 could be perceived in the dimensions of the blood-cells (either 

 augmentation or diminution of volume), by any possible com- 

 parative measurements ; the capillaries were, however, very much 

 filled with blood-corpuscles ; the intercellular fluid appeared to be 

 diminished, and stasis to be thus induced, precisely as occurs in the 

 phenomena of inflammation; here also there were no nuclei to be 

 perceived. The blood of the larger vessels had not the slightest 

 tint of violet, but was of a pure brownish red colour ; its corpuscles 

 were, however, collapsed, in folds, strongly granular, and presented 

 a dull granulated nucleus ; on the addition of an alkaline protocar- 

 bonate, they became still more contracted, and the nuclei stood 

 out distinctly as minute accumulations of sharply projecting 

 granules, the entire cell having a shred-like and folded appearance, 

 and being dotted with tolerable regularity on its border ; on ex- 

 posure to the air, the dark reddish brown clot assumed a light red 

 colour. The lungs were moderately collapsed, and of a brownish 

 red colour ; the heart, on being touched, was not thrown into a 

 state of rigid spasm, but was excited to active contractions. 



In frogs narcotised with ether, and observed in a similar man- 

 ner, some striking phenomena, very different from those hitherto 

 mentioned, were noticed ; here, during the gradual action of the 



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