56 THE BIOLOGY OF DAILY LIFE. 



lymphatica, consisting of collections of white 

 corpuscles, between the red clot and the buffy 

 coat, which so frequently occurs along with it.* 

 " (b) A diminution in the number of white 

 corpuscles occurs in chlorosis ; and it is said, 

 in malaria, especially during the paroxysm of 

 fever." 



I have now given a full statement of the effects of 

 increase and diminution in the case of the "red" and 

 " white" corpuscles, given fully and fairly in the words 

 of a believer in the white corpuscle, a believer with 

 so robust a faith in the creed which runs : " I believe 

 in protoplasm as the maker of all organisms, and in 

 the white corpuscle as the special embodiment of 

 protoplasm which makes man," that dispensing with 

 sight, and believing what he cannot prove, he declares 

 " there can be no reasonable doubt that the red 

 corpuscle is formed out of the white." 



Even already, before the case against it is well 



* N.B. The buffy coat is itself formed by leucocytes. " When 

 human blood is drawn in inflammatory diseases, as well as in 

 some other conditions of the system, the red particles separate 

 from the liquor sanguinis before coagulation, and leave the 

 upper part of the liquid clear. In this case, however, the plasma 

 is still mixed with the pale corpuscles, which being light 

 accumulate at the top. On coagulation taking place in these 

 circumstances, the upper part of the clot remains free from red- 

 ness, and forms the well known " buffy coat" so apt to appear in 

 inflammatory blood." (Quain's " Anatomy," p. 32.) 



The subjoined scheme, from Quain's " Anatomy," p. 28, will 

 make the terms used clear to the reader, and show the process 

 of coagulation : 



T -A ( Corpuscles . ' . . > , 



' blood f Fib I 1 Coagulated 



( Liquor sanguinis ( Serum j> blood. 



