MITOSIS OF LEUCOCYTES 257 



liberately producing this condition of the basophile 

 leucocytes. As a matter of fact, the jelly contained 

 0.6 cc. of the azur dye, and its index of diffusion was 

 now arranged for the coefficient of diffusion of the 

 basophile leucocytes, which is the same as that of the 

 ordinary neutrophile leucocyte. 



After removal from the incubator at the end of 

 ten minutes, it was seen that the lobes of the nuclei 

 of the neutrophile polymorphonuclear leucocytes were 

 just staining a faint blue colour, and there could be 

 no question about it nearly every leucocyte in the 

 specimen was in the act of division. Neutrophile, 

 basophile (fig. 77), and those eosinophile (fig. 78) 

 leucocytes which were not ruptured were undergoing 

 the act of reproduction on the jelly-film. They were 

 dead owing to the staining of the lobes of their nuclei, 

 but the lines of demarcation between the individual 

 daughter cells could be distinctly seen. The cytological 

 procedure by which these cells divide is identical in 

 all varieties of leucocyte. As in lymphocytes, the 

 Altmann's granules were formed into rows, and pre- 

 sumably they are analogous to chromosomes; the rows 

 of granules become arranged into indefinite lines 

 radiating outwards from the dividing-point, which is 

 in the centre of the cell. Running down through the 

 centre of the mass of granules, the filament which 

 unites the lobes of the nuclei evidently forms a basis, 

 analogous to the spindle of other cells, to which the 

 chromosomes are attached; and at the poles of this 

 filament, or spindle, the so-called lobes of the nuclei 

 appeared. It was then immediately appreciated that 



17 



