THE BLOOt). 33 



Colour. The hamatine, or colouring matter of the blood, 

 seems in the red corpuscle of the mammalia to be diffused 

 generally throughout its substance; in the oviparous verte- 

 brata, however, it is confined to that portion of each corpuscle 



cell." These different stages in the developeraent of the blood globule, 

 Dr. Barry compares with similar conditions of the germinal vesicle of 

 the ovum. " The disc," he says, " is the most primitive object we are 

 acquainted with ;" that it is synonymous with the "nucleus " of most au- 

 thors and the " basin-shaped granules" of Vogel ; that it " contains a cavity, 

 or depression," " the nucleolus," which " is the situation of the future 

 orifice," which he says, the blood corpuscle in certain states exhibits, and 

 " by means of which there is a communication between the exterior of 

 the corpuscle and the cavity in its nucleus ;" lastly, the disc is regenerated 

 by fissiparous divisions. These discs are also denominated 4 " primitive 

 discs," " foundations of future cells." The " parent cells " he conceives 

 to be made up of an assemblage of these discs. Again, Dr. Barry states, 

 " The nuclei of the blood corpuscles furnish themselves with cilia, re- 

 volve, and perform locomotion ; " " the primitive discs exhibit an in- 

 herent contractile power." And of the corpuscles themselves, he remarks, 

 " Molecular motions are discernible within the corpuscles of the blood," - 

 " changes of form are observed under peculiar circumstances in the cor- 

 puscles of the blood." These are, however, only the beginning of wonders 

 related. Dr. Barry elsewhere goes on to observe : " In the mature blood 

 corpuscle (red-blood disc), there is often to be seen a flat filament or band 

 already formed within the corpuscle. In Mammalia, including man, this 

 filament is frequently annular; sometimes the ring is divided at a certain 

 part, and sometimes one extremity overlaps the other. In birds and am- 

 phibia the filament is of such length as to be coiled. This filament is 

 formed of the discs contained within the blood corpuscle. . . " The fila- 

 ment thus formed within the blood corpuscle has a structure which is very 

 remarkable. It is not only flat, but deeply grooved on both surfaces,'* 

 in an oblique manner. " It is deserving of notice," continues Dr. Barry, 

 " that in the first place, portions of coagulum of blood sometimes consist of 

 filaments having a structure identical with that of the filaments formed 

 within the blood corpuscle ; secondly, that in the coagulum I have noticed 

 the ring formed in the blood corpuscle of man, and the coil formed 

 in that of birds and reptiles, unwinding themselves into the straight and 

 often parallel filaments of the coagulum, changes which may be seen also 

 taking place in blood placed under the microscope before coagulation ; 

 thirdly, that I have noticed similar coils strewn through the field of 

 view when examining various tissues, the coils here also appearing to be 

 altered blood corpuscles and unwinding ; lastly, that filaments having the 

 same structure as the foregoing are to be met with apparently in every 



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