398 THE BLOOD, BY ALEXANDER KOLLETT. 



the blood corpuscles of Tritons, on the addition of three or four 

 per cent, solutions of -common salt, projections may form on 

 the flat surface at right angles to the long axis, with paler or 

 colourless spaces intervening between them. 



The alkaline salts of the biliary acids, and the bile itself, 

 according to the older observations of Plattner (1844), which 

 Kiihne* has corroborated by more recent researches, dissolve 

 the red corpuscles of most .animals, with phenomena in those of 

 man which are similar to the effects that, according to L. 

 Hermann, result from the action of chloroform or ether on the 

 corpuscles. This subject, however, will beonore fully discussed 

 hereafter. 



,c. The action of sugar under the microscope is similar to that of 

 the above-named salts. Its solutions, in moderate degrees of 

 concentration, harden the corpuscles by the withdrawal of water, 

 and forms are produced analogous to those that are met with 

 after the action of moderately strong alkaline solutions. 



d. Alkalies,-f as a general rule, when in a state of moderate 

 concentration, exert a solvent action on all the constituents of 

 the blood corpuscles, including the nuclei. The following may 

 be particularly mentioned amongst the many forms that are 

 met with: 



In the case of potash and soda lyes, and of solutions of lime, 

 baryta, and strontian, containing O'l gramme, in 100 cubic cen- 

 timeters of water, a remarkable difference occurs, as compared 

 with the action of pure water ; .for the corpuscles first change 

 into coloured spheroids, but soon disappear without leaving a 

 trace. In the > nucleated blood corpuscles, on .the other hand, 

 after they ihave become converted into coloured spheroids, the 

 nucleus may still be indistinctly seen, and appears to be ex- 

 panded in its interior, though the diameter of the coloured 

 spheroid is not itself materially altered. The corpuscle soon 

 gives the impression of undergoing flattening, and immediately 

 the whole spheroid, with the nucleus, entirely disappears. As 

 already stated, the impression of the flattening occurs only 

 in the nucleated "blood corpuscle, but is visible both in the 



* Virchow's Archiv, Band xiv., p. 333. 

 t Kneuttinger, loc. cit., p. 39. 



