726 INTERNAL SECRETIONS AND PRESERVATION OF LIFE. 



It seems to us that we have in the finely-granular cell the 

 freshly-laden cell on its way, when in the blood, to its normal 

 habitat, the connective-tissue spaces, where their granules de- 

 velop into their normal size. Indeed, Gulland alludes to a 

 basophile cell, represented in one of his plates, of which he 

 says: "The leucocyte was seen to have been fixed in the act of 

 passing through a narrow hole between two bundles of connective 

 tissue." This cell is furthermore accompanied by a large num- 

 ber of granules held 'in a net-work of fibers, which the cell 

 appears to drag along in its travels. It is of this variety of 

 leucocyte that Gulland says: "It has often been remarked that 

 these cells show a great tendency to leave their granules be- 

 hind them," etc., and the one which, in the portion of this 

 section devoted to a review of the general properties of leuco- 

 cytes, stands pre-eminently as a free-granule producer. 



That the cell in migrating from the vessels and passing 

 through connective-tissue interstices has for its purpose to 

 reach the myelin spaces of nerves is clearly suggested by the 

 manner in which the lymphatic spaces are arranged even in the 

 finer ramifications. "In its course Henle's sheath is not ap- 

 plied against the nerve-tube," writes Berdal 63 ; "there is between 

 it and the nerve-tube a space occupied by lymph-plasma which 

 has for its purpose to supply the cylinder-axis with its nutri- 

 tion." If this statement is interpreted from the standpoint of 

 our views, it is more than nutrition, but myelin-granules, which 

 insinuate themselves through chemical affinity, doubtless 

 wherever there is need for them: i.e., wherever their consump- 

 tion has been greatest. "Medullated nerve-fibers, when exam- 

 ined, frequently present a beaded or varicose appearance," say 

 Pick and Howden 64 ; "this is due to manipulation and pressure 

 causing the oily matter to collect into drops, and in consequence 

 of the extreme delicacy of the primitive sheath even slight 

 pressure will cause the transudation of fatty matter, which 

 collects in drops of oil outside the membrane." Evidently we 

 are not dealing with a fixed mass, but with one made up of 

 extremely mobile particles, which to us, at least, represent as 

 many basophile granules. If the space between Henle's sheath 



Berdal: Loc. cit., p. 152. 



*Pick and Howden: Loc. cit., p. 1117. 



