288 MICROSCOPICAL MEMORANDA. 



der Physick und Chemie, Vol. xxiv. p, \, Translated in Taylor's Scientific 

 Memoirs, Vol. I. p. 528. 



Rees and Lane on the Structure of the Blood Corpuscles. The chief 

 points are, that the blood corpuscle contains a fluid, and that the cor- 

 puscle of mammals, as well as the other lower vertebrata, 'contains a 

 nucleus. The human blood being -3 aVoth of an inch in diameter, its 

 nucleus is described as a thin circular layer of colourless substance 

 measuring from j-gVoth to g^^th of an inch. 



With regard to the fluid, if we remember rightly, M. Mandl (Anato- 

 mi-Microscopique) expressly states his conviction, that the appearance 

 of the corpuscles when removed from the body is due to coagulation, as 

 he considers the corpuscles are in fact not solid while circulating in the 

 living body. As to the nucleus, it appears to us that Messrs. Rees and 

 Lane have described under this appellation the blood corpuscle deprived 

 of its colouring matter, and which has been long well known, an old 

 thing with a new name. Thus Sir E. Home (Phil. Trans. 1818, p. 198, 

 plate 8,), has figured sixteen globules in their colouring matter, occupy- 

 ing the same space as twenty-five of the same globules with the colour- 

 ing matter removed. Schultz has described the same central part of 

 the blood corpuscle, which he procured by washing blood with water 

 and then adding iodine : and Gulliver saw them in abundance in the 

 sediment of washed blood. " The human blood corpuscles, enlarged at 

 first by water and then deprived of colouring matter and reduced in 

 size, generally present a diameter of 48 1 00 th of an inch, whether de- 

 tected in the pure water, or rendered more apparent by corrosive subli- 

 mate. They have a very characteristic appearance, being remarkably 

 flat and pellucid. It is obvious from the size, shape, and general ap- 

 pearance of these particles, that they are not identical with those gene- 

 rally described as the nuclei of the blood corpuscles. The average dia- 

 meter of the discs in the first instance was -g-jV-gth of an inch." (Lond. 

 and Edin. Phil. Mag. for Feb. 1840.) It does not appear to us to fol- 

 low as a matter of course, that this basis of the mammiferous corpuscle 

 is identical with the nucleus of the corpuscles of the oviperous verte- 

 brata : on the contrary, we cannot help considering that there is an 

 essential difference in this respect between the corpuscles of mammalia 

 and the corpuscles of the lower vertebrata. Vide Guy's Hospital Re- 

 ports, No. 13, Oct. 1841. Lond. and Edin. Month. Journ. Med. Science, 

 Dec. 1841,;?. 906. 



Goodsir on the Morbid Anatomy of Intestinal Glands, as occurring in 

 Continued Fever. He stated it consist chiefly in the development within 

 the vesicles of the Peyerian patches, of a matter presenting the appear- 

 ance of nucleated cells with clear coats. This product, accumulating 

 in quantity, destroys the walls of the vesicles, and extends itself be- 

 tween the mucous and submucous tissue, forming patches more or less 

 elevated. The distension of the mucous membrane causes it to form a 

 slough, which separates, and consists partly of the mucous membrane, 

 but chiefly of the mass of cellular matter beneath. Lond. and Edin. 

 Month. Jour, of Med. Science, April, 1842, p. 399. 



