Maboh 18, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



469 



properly cheeked, I will quote the following, 

 which is a masterpiece of descriptive writing, 

 and leaves little doubt concerning the various 

 standpoints from which the subject has been 

 treated : 



Sachs, Phil. Jacob. ramiapoXnyia sive 

 gammarorum, vulgo cancrorum, consideratio 

 physico -philologico - historico- medico-chymica, 

 in qua prwter Gammarorum singularem 

 naturam, indolens et muUivarium usum, non 

 minus reliquorum crustatorum iractatio ad 

 normam coUegii natures curiosorum plurimis 

 inventis secretionihus naturw artisque locu- 

 pletata. 8vo, Francofurti et Lipsiae, 1665. 



On this head I may state as a sort of con- 

 fession, that in an early article of my own I 

 employed a title of eighteen words to desig- 

 nate the same number of pages. There may 

 possibly have been reasons other than the 

 length of the title which denied me the pleas- 

 ure of seeing this article extensively quoted, 

 but in my own later experience I know that 

 an article of indifferent value may often be 

 saved for a bibliography through the merit 

 of having an easily quotable title. 



Modest titles, or those in which the author 

 acknowledges that the final word has not been 

 said upon the subject, usually begin with ' A 

 contribution to the study of,' ' A few points 

 in the anatomy of,' * Observations upon the 

 structure and development of,' and seem to 

 be especially popular with younger investi- 

 gators. While composed in the most laudable 

 sipirit, such titles are hardly necessary, since 

 there is little danger of a misunderstanding on 

 the point guarded against by the writer. 



There are in all probability other forms of 

 lengthy titles besides those touched upon here, 

 and it is certain that titles may have numer- 

 ous other defects besides length, but this ar- 

 ticle is intended as a protest, not a treatise; 

 in short, ' a contribution to the study of the 

 relative length of scientific titles, including 

 an inquiry into the cause and origin of those 

 that may he considered excessive, together 

 with suggestions concerning the remedy for 

 the same.' 



Haeris Hawthorne Wilder. 



Smith College, 

 February 6, 1904. 



ELLIPTICAL HUMAN BED CORPUSCLES. 



In this short note the writer desires to place 

 on record a peculiar anomaly in human red 

 blood corpuscles. This interesting variation 

 came to notice in the histological laboratory 

 of the Ohio State University in October, 1902. 

 The class at that time was studying the hu- 

 man corpuscles, and the attention of the lab- 

 oratory assistant, Mr. Seymour, was attracted 

 by the sketches made by a student who had 

 represented the red corpuscles by elliptical 

 outlines. Examination disclosed the fact that 

 the colored corpuscles in the sample recently 

 drawn by the student from his own finger were 

 elliptical and not circular. 



The student was directed to prepare another 

 specimen, using a perfectly clean slide and 

 cover-glass, and he followed directions closely, 

 covering the slide as quickly as possible. The 

 corpuscles were observed to have the same 

 shape as before. Professor Bleile and Dr. 

 Morrey confirmed the observation, and at Pro- 

 fessor Bleile's suggestion numerous samples 

 were taken by several people and the speci- 

 mens invariably showed the same peculiarity. 

 It was deemed advisable to extend the obser- 

 vations over a period of several weeks, sub- 

 jecting the corpuscles to the action of various 

 reagents, and also making measurements of 

 the size of the cells. 



To this end the writer carried the work on 

 during a period of four months, specimens 

 being taken at various intervals. The reac- 

 tions to such reagents as water, dilute caustic 

 potash, dilute acetic acid, dilute hydrochloric 

 acid, tannic acid, etc., were normal, but in 

 each specimen taken many cells having the 

 abnormal shape were noted. The erythrocytes 

 were distinctly elliptical, slightly biconcave, 

 non-nucleated cells which did not adhere in 

 rouleaux. In many of them the biconcavity 

 was scarcely perceptible. It was estimated 

 that 90 per cent, of the red cells did not have 

 the circular outline of normal corpuscles. It 

 was also shown that these cells were elliptical 

 whether they were subjected to the pressure 

 of a cover-glass or not. This seemed to be 

 the only manner in which they differed mor- 

 phologically from the normal cells, except in 

 the slight degree of biconcavity. As this dif- 



