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VII. On Fibre. By MARTIN BARBY, M.D., F.R.SS. L. and E. 



Received December 3, Head December 16, 1841. 



THERE is scarcely any term so generally used in the description of animal or 

 vegetable tissue, as the term Jibre. If this serves to show the universal presence of 

 fibre, it also indicates the importance of having a correct notion of its structure. 

 On this subject, however, physiologists differ widely : some believing fibre to be com- 

 posed of globules, while others maintain that no globules can be discerned in it. 



My investigations have led me to adopt neither of these views. Should the obser- 

 vations that I have to communicate be found deserving of attention, it will be owing 

 to my having carefully examined the structure of fibre in the course of its formation, 

 beginning with the very earliest stage. At this period, I had to deal with an object 

 of considerable size ; the form of which, therefore, could be distinctly seen : and by 

 tracing the metamorphoses of the large and parent fibre, I was enabled to see in the 

 minute succeeding ones a structure, which I think would not otherwise have been 

 discerned. We may hereafter see the cause of the difference in opinion regarding 

 the structure of fibre. 



The present memoir, though devoted to the investigation of fibre, is in fact a con- 

 tinuation of those which I have already communicated to the Society on the Corpus- 

 cles of the Blood -f-. 



Formation of a Flat Filament within the Blood-corpuscle. Structure of this Fila- 

 ment. Presence of a Filament having the same appearance in the Coagulum of 

 Blood -, as well as in the Tissues generally, of both Animals and Plants. This Flat 

 Filament is what is usually termed a " Fibre." 



1. 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 (Plate V. figs. 4, 1, 2), this filament is frequently annular ; sometimes the ring 

 is divided at a certain part ; and sometimes one extremity overlaps the other. In 

 Birds (fig. 5.), Amphibia (figs. 8, 9, 10, 11), and Fishes (figs. 12, 13), the filament is 

 of such length as to be coiled. 



2. This filament is formed of the discs contained within the blood-corpuscle. In 

 Mammals, the discs entering into its formation are so few as to form a single ring; 

 whence the biconcave form of the corpuscle in this class, and the often annular form 



f Part I. Philosophical Transactions, 1840, p. 595, Part II. Philosophical Transactions, 1841, p. 201, 

 Part III. Philosophical Transactions, 1841, p. 217. 



MDCCCXLII. N 



