134 



OUR BODIES AND HOW WE LIVE 



about in the plasma. In the same way, a clear white glass 

 bottle filled with red beads and water would look uniformly 

 red at a short distance. There are about five hundred of 

 the red corpuscles to one of the white corpuscles. 



The red corpuscles contain iron combined with proteid. 

 The red substance thus formed combines readily with oxy- 

 gen and makes the 

 blood scarlet. 



Experiment 38. To 

 illustrate in a general 

 way that blood is really a 

 mass of red bodies which 

 give the red color to the 

 fluid in which they float. 

 Fill a clean white glass 

 bottle two thirds full of 

 little red beads, and then 

 fill the bottle full of water. 

 At a short distance the 

 bottle appears to be filled 

 with a uniformly red 

 ^^S^ML_^^^ liquid. 



FIG. 82. Human Blood Corpuscles, as 190. The Red Cor- 



seen under the Microscope. ^ ^ ^ 



Magnified 1000 diameters. 



The dark circular disks are the red corpuscles. Near red COrpUSClCS are CirCU- 



the center two white corpuscles are seen, with their l ar disks, resembling 



nuclei stained so that they look black. . r 



somewhat pieces of 



money. Their form is not unlike that of an india-rubber 

 air cushion when blown up with air. They are not hard, 

 but are like tiny pieces of red jelly. They are so elastic 

 that they can squeeze through narrow places and then at 

 once return to their own shape. 



The red corpuscles are so very small that, if we had 

 fingers delicate enough to handle them, we could place 



