1891.] MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 23 



MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETIES. 



Boston Scientific Society, — Boston, Mass. 



December 2J, i8go ; 221st Corporate Meeting. — A paper on Blood 

 Corpuscles was read by W. D. Grier. He described the chemical com- 

 position of the blood and the changes it undergoes during circulation. 

 The difference in color between arterial and venous blood is due to the fact 

 that arterial is charged with oxygen, which gives it a, bright scarlet color, 

 and venous blood is charged with carbonic acid, which darkens it. The 

 venous blood in passing through the lungs, where it is exposed in large 

 surfaces to the air, gives up its carbonic acid and absorbs oxygen, which 

 it in turn yields up to the tissues, taking up carbonic acid and other im- 

 purities. Blood does not, as is popularly supposed, consist of a homo- 

 geneous red fluid, but is really a transparent fluid bearing in suspension 

 innumerable little bodies called the corpuscles ; these are of two kinds, 

 the red, so called, and the white. The red or colored corpuscles are 

 really of a yellowish tinge, but in large numbers look red. In all mam- 

 mals except the camel family they are bi-concave and circular, but in 

 camels and their allies they are elliptical. The only difference between 

 other mammalian corpuscles is one of size, the human corpuscle being 

 about -ssVir ^^ ^^ inch in diameter, and those of other mammals var}^- 

 ing in either direction, the smallest being those of the goat and the 

 largest those of the elephant. The size of the corpuscle however is in 

 no sense dependent upon that of the animal. The red corpuscles of 

 birds, fishes, and reptiles are elliptical and nucleated, reptiles having 

 the largest of any animals. The corpuscles of the proteus or "blind 

 fish," being j^-q of an inch in their long diameter, and the "■ hell-bender" 

 or "mud puppy" of the Western States is said to have even larger 

 corpuscles than this. 



The second kind of corpuscle is the white, which in healthy human 

 blood exists in the proportion of two or three to the thousand of red 

 discs. They are much larger than the red corpuscles, except in rep- 

 tiles, where they are smaller ; they are round and of a granular ap- 

 pearance. When treated with dilute acetic acid they develop a large 

 nucleus. In anaemic or poor-blooded persons they exist in much greater 

 numbers than in healthy blood. 



Mr. Grier described the changes which the blood passes through 

 after being drawn from the body, and touched on the examination of 

 suspicious stains in criminal cases, alluding to the testimony of Prof. 

 Wood in the Sawtell trial. The paper was illustrated with photo- 

 graphs of blood corpuscles made by the lecturer and diagrams of the 

 circulation, etc. Mr. John Clacey then gave a description of the vari- 

 ous steps in the cutting and grinding of telescope lenses. 



Saint Louis Club of Microscopists — Frank Davis, Sec'y. 



yan. 8, i8gi . — The following officers were elected for the coming 

 year: J. C. Falk, M. D., President; A. C. Speth, Vice-President ; 

 Frank Davis, Sec'y ; Otto Meyer, Treasurer; Wm. Ilhardt, Curator. 



Mr. Meyer exhibited slides of sachet powders and of Fitctis ver- 

 sicolosus. Dr. H. M. Whelpley exhibited a specimen of peacock sil- 

 ver and several other mounts of interest. Several applications for 

 membership were received. 



