86 ORGANISED FLUIDS. 



siderable, and the small spaces between them consequently 

 more prominent ; and again in other globules, and which 

 are indeed by far the most numerous, it will be obvious 

 that the whole surface has become distinctly tuberculated, 

 each tubercle, of which there are several to each globule, 

 appearing to be of a spherical form, and resembling a 

 minute bubble of some gas, probably of oxygen, or carbon, 

 according as the blood is arterial or venous. That they are 

 really of a gaseous nature is proved, I think, by the fact of 

 their gradual formation as well as dissipation. M. Andral 

 states, that in blood which has been deprived of its fibrin, the 

 corpuscles never exhibit the peculiar granulated or tuber- 

 culated aspect which we have described, and this fact he 

 adduces in support of the opinion entertained by him, that 

 this peculiar condition of the globules is due to the accumu- 

 lation on their surface of the molecules derived from the 

 fibrin. 



Mr. John Quekett is also of the opinion that this peculiar 

 condition of the blood globules of which we have been speak- 

 ing, is occasioned by the adherence to their edges of granules 

 which he considers to be derived from the interior of the 

 corpuscles themselves. See " Observations on the Blood 

 Discs and their Contents," Microscopic Journal, vol. i. p. 65. 

 For further observations on this granulated appearance of 

 the corpuscles, see Part I. p. 31. 



MODIFICATIONS THE RESULTS OF DECOMPOSITION OCCUR- 

 RING IN BLOOD ABANDONED TO ITSELF WITHOUT THE 

 BODY. 



In blood abandoned to itself and exposed to atmospheric 

 influences, changes of form and appearance speedily begin to 

 manifest themselves in the red corpuscles. These changes 

 occur in regular order ; they first become wrinkled, deformed, 

 and tuberculated ; they next lose their flattened and disc-like 

 shape, becoming globular and smooth ; their colouring matter 

 escapes from them, and they present a livid hue. In this 

 condition they are with difficulty discoverable in the blood ; 



