42 ORGANISED FLUIDS. 



than the rest of the corpuscle, and would appear to contain LI 

 greater number of molecules. (See Plate \.fig. 6.) Some- 

 times it presents to the eye of the observer the appearance of 

 an aperture ; this appearance, although very striking, is most 

 probably fallacious. 



Mr. Addison regards the nucleus presented by the white 

 corpuscles as primary, an opinion in which I concur. 



Properties. The white corpuscles of the blood differ not 

 less in their properties from the red than they do in form and 

 structure : thus acetic acid, which dissolves the latter, con- 

 tracts somewhat the former, and renders the contained 

 granules more distinct; in water the red globules become 

 globular and smaller in size, while the white increase con- 

 siderably in dimensions in the same liquid (see Plate I. 

 fig. 6.), and finally burst in it, their molecular contents 

 escaping. In liquor potasses both the red and white cor- 

 puscles are destroyed and dissolved ; previous to which, 

 however, in the white globules, some interesting changes 

 are seen to take place ; immediately on the application of 

 the alkali the molecules contained in their interior are ob- 

 served to be in active motion, and in a short time the cor- 

 puscles burst open, or explode, discharging numerous gra- 

 nules, amounting sometimes to thirty or forty ; and which, 

 together with the transparent matter of the corpuscles, finally 

 becomes dissolved. " Frequently when the liquor potassa? 

 is acting with diminished energy, the corpuscles give a 

 sudden jerk, and in a moment enlarge to double or three 

 times their former size, without losing their circular outline : 

 the molecules and granules within them are more widely 

 separated from each other, but not dispersed ; and they are 

 seen held together, or attached to the tunic of the corpuscle, 

 by delicate connecting filaments. This singular and in- 

 structive change does not, of course, last long; the alkali, 

 continuing its action, ruptures the tunic of the corpuscle, dis- 

 persing and dissolving its contents." Addison. 



When examined in the living capillary vessels they are 

 seen to manifest different properties to the red, and also to 

 have a very different distribution in those vessels. Thus the 



