CHAP, vi.] OF LIVING LIQUIDS. 67 



birds, of amphibia, and of fishes : elliptical only in the class 

 of reptiles. There is no absolute rule, however. The fact of the 

 existence of globules in the blood of an animal is very important ; 

 but their form is much less so. We have seen that certain 

 mammifers have elliptical sanguineous globules like those of 

 birds. On the other hand, the humblest of the vertebrates, fishes 

 of an inferior order, such as the genera myxine and petromyxon, 

 having affinity with the celebrated Amphioxus lanceolatus, have 

 like man sanguineous globules, circular and with double depres- 

 sion. Lastly, as a second link of the chain between the branch- 

 iostoma without globules, 1 as an invertebrate, and the fishes with 

 globular blood, is found a fish with white, colourless globules, 

 the leptocephalus. But, on the whole, in spite of some exceptions, 

 the red globules, or h&matia, are found in the blood of nearly all 

 the vertebrates ; they are the anatomical and physiological sign 

 of a complete organisation, of a more active respiration, of a 

 higher vitality. 



In the blood of man and of the mammifers, the sanguineous 

 globules are in immense number. According to Schumann, 

 Andral, and Gavaret, the red globules in the humid state form 

 in volume the half of the mass of the blood. 2 Furthermore, 

 Yierordt has counted, in a cubic millimetre of blood, from 

 4,180,000 to 5,551,000 globules. 



The younger the individual the greater is the proportion of 

 haematia. The blood of the adult man contains 302 thousandths 

 according to Ch. Robin. 3 There is much more in younger persons, 

 and in the new-born child the proportion rises to 600, to 680, 

 and even to 700 thousandths. A German anthropologist, Dr. 

 Welcker, has demonstrated that from the point of view of the 

 form and the proportions of the cranium and of the face, 

 woman holds an intermediate position between the adult man 

 and the infant. In regard to the hsematia, the relative propor- 

 tion is the same, rising in women to 320 and to 400 thousandths. 



1 Eetzius, J. M tiller, De Quatrefages. 2 G. See, Du Sang et des An6mies, p. 15. 

 3 Ch. Robin, Des Humeurs. 



p 2 



