THE WHITE BLOOD CORPUSCLES 199 



these organs. It seems best, however, not to attach too great an im- 

 portance to this fact, because it can readily be shown that the spleen 

 is neither the only nor the most important organ for the destruction of 

 these elements. The evidence which tends to confirm this statement 

 is as follows: 



(a) The removal of the spleen does not seem to lessen the destruction of the 

 red cells, as is evinced by the quantity of the bile-pigment excreted. 



(b) If a marked destruction of red corpuscles actually did occur in the spleen, 

 the phagocytic cells of this organ should be loaded to their utmost capacity with 

 these cells or with the substances derived from them. This histological evidence 

 has not been supplied as yet. 



(c) Quite similarly, the blood emerging from this organ should show a cor- 

 puscle count below that of the arterial blood, and, furthermore, should also con- 

 tain those bodies which are ordinarily derived from the red corpuscles. That the 

 splenic blood undergpes these changes has not been definitely established. 



CHAPTER XVII 



THE WHITE BLOOD CORPUSCLES 

 PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL PROPERTIES 



Color, Shape and Size. — The white corpuscles appear as small 

 globules of protoplasm, measuring from 4 to 14/x in diameter. Some 

 of them, therefore, are much larger and some much smaller than the 

 red cells. Their substance is soft and sticky, grayish in color, homo- 

 geneous or granular, and not surrounded by a clearly recognizable 

 membrane. Their surface is often quite uneven and shows at times 

 irregular projections which break off and float free in the blood. Al- 

 though these cells are strongly refracting, their nuclear portion does 

 not become sharply differentiated until they have been brought in 

 contact either with suitable stains or with water and solutions of acetic 

 acid. These agents serve to contrast them more sharply against the 

 medium, because water tends to render the granules more conspicuous, 

 while acetic acid lessens the opacity of their cytoplasm. 



The Classification of the White Corpuscles. — The white cells may be 

 arranged in groups in accordance with the shape and size of their 

 cell-bodies and nuclei, as well as in accordance with certain differences 

 in the behavior of their granular constituents toward anilin dyes. 

 Ehrlich^ found that some of these granules react only toward acid 

 dyes, while others can only be stained with basic or neutral pigments. 

 For this reason, the white corpuscles have been described as acido- 

 philes,^ basophiles and neutrophiles. In accordance with their general 

 characteristics, they are divided into two principal groups and these 

 again into several others, as follows: 



1 Archiv f. (Anat. u.) Physiol., 1879, 571, and "Die Anemie," 1898. 



2 Also called oxiphiles or eosinophiles. 



