

STRUCTURE OF COLORED BLOOD-CORPUSCLES. 79 



believed to be ; but, on the contrary, are solid ; because every fluid swimming 

 in another, which is in larger quantity, if it be not soluble in that fluid, 

 becomes globular." He also observed changes of shape; for, speaking of the 

 blood-corpuscles of a lobster, he said: "But there is a curious change pro- 

 duced in their shape by being exposed to the air ; for, soon after they are 

 received on the glass, they are corrugated, or from a flat shape are changed 

 into irregular spheres, as is represented in Plate XII., No. 12";* and on 

 turning to the plate we find represented " angular," " rosette," and "stel- 

 lated" forms. He was the first who likened the appearance of corpuscles, 

 with their external surface corrugated, to that of small mulberries, t 



It would be impossible for me, as well as useless, to give a list of all those 

 who have described changes of form in red blood-corpuscles since Hewson's 

 time. Different shapes and some of them far more curious and irregular 

 than those I have described have been observed H under many physiological 

 and pathological conditions, as well as on subjecting the blood to the action 

 of various chemical and physical agencies. Text-books and monographs 

 give sufficient information on this point, especially the article on the blood by 

 Alexander Rollet, in Strieker's " Handbuch der Lehre von den Greweben des 

 Menschen und der Thiere," Which has been translated by Henry Power and 

 published by the London New Sydenham Society, and which has been repub- 

 lished in this country. \ 



Since that article was written the following observations have been made : 



Langhans, in experiments on rabbits, saw, in extravasated blood, red 

 corpuscles with numerous fine projections, and in pigeons' red blood-cor- 

 puscles, also, observed morphological changes. 



Lieberklihn || described remarkable form-changes in the red corpuscles of 

 the blood of salamanders and of pikes. 



Wedl If observed changes of shape in human and frogs' red blood-corpuscles 

 on adding a drop of concentrated aqueous solution of pyrogallic acid to a drop 

 of fresh blood. 



Bay Lankester** found in his own healthy blood, in addition to the ordi- 

 nary biconcave forms, " thorn-apple " and "single and double watch-glass " 

 forms. In the two latter there is, when the corpuscle is seen on edge, instead 

 of a concavity, a convexity on either one or both sides. He also described 

 and figured varieties of shape in both human and frogs' colored blood- 

 corpuscles subjected to the action of various re-agents. Of these I shall cite, 

 later on, the effects of very dilute ammonia gas and acetic acid vapor. 



Braxton Hicks tt observed colored blood-corpuscles of various shapes in 

 fluid from an ovarian cyst, and in blood in other pathological conditions. 



* Ibid., p. 321. Opus posthumum, pp. 19, 20 ; Collected Works, edited by Gulliver, tit., 

 p. 234. 



t Ibid., p. 313, etc. 



t " A Manual of Histology." By Prof. S. Strieker. American translation edited by Albert 

 H. Buck. New York : Wm. Wood & Co., 1872. 



" Beobachtungen iiber Kesorption der Extravasate und Pigmentbildung in denselben." 

 Virchow's Archiv, vol. xlix. (1870), pp. 66-116. 



II " Ueber Bewegungserscheinungen der Zellen." Schriften der Gesellschaft zur Beforde- 

 rung der gesamraten Naturwissenschaften zu Marburg, vol. ix. (1870), p. 335. 



If " Histologisclie Mittheilungen : Ueber die Einwirkung der Pyrogallussaure auf die 

 rothen Blutkorperchen." Sitzungsbericlite der Wiener Akademie der Wissenschaften, vol. 

 Ixiv. (1871), 1 Div., p. 405. 



** " Observations and Experiments on the Red Blood-corpuscle, chiefly with regard to 

 the Action of Gases and Vapours." Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, October, 

 1871, p. 361-387. 



tt Observations cit. Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, vol. xii. (1872), p. 114. 



