December 9, 1892.] 



SCIENCE. 



331 



one portion and thrown it aside, at the same time twisting the 

 little ligature still connecting the parts, the effect being such that 

 the two might be compaivd to two watch-glasses adherent at one 

 side by the edges, but with the concavity of one directed away 

 from the convexity of the other, the two concavities therefore 

 looking in opposite directions. If there ever was a chance to look 

 into the interior of a distended and sectioned red blood-corpuscle 

 this was it, although the whole was the result of a fortunate 

 accident and of nothing else. It was good luck with no good 

 management, for I could never repeat the experiment with even 

 a similar success. But with an achromatic condenser, N. A. 1.0, 

 and with Reichert's semiapochromatic, oil-immersion one-twelfth 

 inch objective, N. A. 1.40, each of those two parts -of the same 

 red corpuscle was seen to be filled with a distinct and conspicuous 

 reticulum, as a saucer or a watch-glass might be filled with a 

 flat-topped sponge. 



The result of this effort at rough-and-ready cutting of the red 

 corpuscles was so pleasing, that the thought of a deliberate sec- 

 tioning with a microtome was fascinating, and the hope of a 

 still more perfect exhibition of the reticulum within the sections 

 was too great to be long postponed. It is, of course, impossible 

 for the most expert microtomist to select a red corpuscle, put it 

 into position on its narrow edge after having submitted it to the 

 action of the bichromate of potassium solution, to embed it, and 

 then to slice it up in the microtome. A section parallel with the 

 "broad surfaces of the corpuscle would not answer the purpose, 

 and indeed, if such a section could be made, the microscope and 

 the microscopist himself might remain blind to the result. It 

 would hardly be possible to know that such a section had been 

 produced, since the microscopical appearances of the entire, uncut 

 ■corpuscle must be similar to any section possibly made in the di- 

 rection mentioned. The cutting must therefore be done in a 

 direction transverse to the broad surface of the corpuscle, that is, 

 at right angles to that aspect. Even to cut once across an object 

 •only ^^^ inch in diameter would be impossible with but a single 

 specimen to work on. The method that occurred to me is one 

 that would naturally occur to any one, and when I suggested it 

 to my correspondents, Mr. Ludwig Reiderer of New York City 

 and Dr. Edward Gray of Santa Cruz, California, they kindly 

 promised to make the experiment and to send me the resultant 

 slides, as they did. The method was simply to submit a large 

 a,mouDt of blood to the action of a five per cent solution of potas- 

 sium bichromate, and to embed a large quantity of the corpuscles 

 without any other preparation, the belief being that some of the 

 numerous corpuscles would place themselves in a position to be 

 sectioned transversely. The tendency of these special objects 

 is to arrange themselves so that the broad surfaces shall be hori- 

 zontal. If, then, the embedding medium containing them should 

 be turned over, so that the knife should pass through it at right 

 angles to its plane upper surface, the chances were that some of 

 the corpuscles would be sectioned as desired, and at least once 

 across. More than one section of a single corpuscle was not 

 even dreamed of. The results justified the expectation. While 

 not many corpuscles were sectioned, I still found fourteen on one 

 slide, some being admirably cut. These were enough to give an 

 opportunity to look into the interior, and to show that my rough- 

 and-ready method of cutting with a needle-point on the cover- 

 glass, although only an accident, gave as correct a picture of the 

 structure as the more elaborate methods of my correspondents, 

 which, of a truth, were almost equally only an accidental suc- 

 cess. 



A section of a red corpuscle set up on its narrow uncut edge 

 and looked at from above, that is, with the cut surface upward, 

 is not always panduriform in outline after treatment with the 

 bichromate solution. Whilst some are perfectly pandurate, the 

 majority are variously changed in form by the potassium salt, 

 the outlines being semi-circular, plano-convex, concavo-convex, 

 or " crossed," that is, double convex with the convexities of dif- 

 ferent curvatures. The specimens panduriform in outline were 

 few in number in these experiments, but they did exist, and were 

 studied with rather more satisfaction than were the other forms, 

 which, although not having the normal outlines, were not altered 

 in structure, if the histologists are correct when they assure us 



that the bichromate of potassium has no deleterious action on 

 protoplasm. 



These as well as all the sections were carefully and repeatedly 

 examined with light passed through blue glass, and with the 

 achromatic condenser and the oil-immersion objective already 

 mentioned. The result justified the conclusion reached by means 

 of the happy accident that I have referred to so repeatedly. The 

 apparent reticulation is a true reticulation and in no way a sur- 

 face wrinkling. The net-work is made up of minute fibrils that 

 produce an internal reticulum that, at least after the action of 

 the bichromate salt, fill the entire internal part of the human 

 red corpuscle. Upon the thickened, firmer surface that simulates 

 an external membranous cell-wall, even after taking into con- 

 sideration unavoidable diffraction effects, there is no evidence of a 

 wrinkling. On the surface of certain of the corpuscles that were 

 accidentally setupright, that is, vertically on their narrow edge, but 

 escaped the knife, there were absolutely no signs of any roughness 

 or of any wrinkling. The surface outlines were as smooth and as 

 even as they could possibly be. I am convinced thattherei;iculation, 

 under the effect of the bichromate of potassium solution, exists, 

 not on the surface but within the body of the human red blood- 

 corpuscle; and if the potassium salt has no deleterious effect on 

 protoplasm, then the reticulation is a normal structure, and the 

 net-work of protoplasmic fibrils is a natural and constant con- 

 stituent of the red blood-corpuscles. Yet the doubt is great and 

 prominent. How that doubt is to be dispelled I must leave to 

 microscopists that are more expert histologists than am I. 



In all the corpuscles lying horizontally on the slide a nucleus- 

 like body was conspicuous, the net- work of fibrils being always 

 connected with it, the nucleus-like body being itself circular in 

 optical section and inconstant in position. In but two corpus- 

 cles that had been certainly cut transversely was a nucleus like 

 body observable. In others, if it existed the section did not hap- 

 pen to pass through it. In one of the two instances referred to, 

 there were two minutely elliptical bodies present, one near each 

 extremity of the section, whilst in the other only a single object 

 of the kind was visible near one end. If a nucleus exists in the 

 red blood-corpuscles, judging from these two examples, it is 

 disciform, as would naturally be supposed. That the appearance 

 should be so prominently visible in most of the corpuscles thus 

 treated, is at least suggestive. 



There is in connection with this internal structure a questioi 

 that should be answered, or at least investigated by those that 

 have access to the murderers in New York State, of whom there 

 are usually several on hand. What is the effect, if any, of the 

 fatal electrical current on the reticulation? That the corpuscles 

 are altered in size and in shape is well known, especially to those 

 that have seen the preparations of the blood from William 

 Kemmler, the first murderer executed in the electrical chair. 

 But nothing was at that time done to learn if there had been any 

 change in the reticulations within the corpuscles, and. so far as I 

 know, nothing of the kind was even thought of. To remove a 

 sufficient quantity of blood that had certainly been under the in- 

 fluence of the electrical current, and to subject it to the action of 

 the bichromate solution, would not be difficult for any competent 

 microscopist that might have access to the criminal's body imme- 

 diately after the execution. That the reticulations exist within 

 the corpuscles I am convinced ; that the electrical current would 

 make a change of any kind in those reticulations is one of the 

 many things that I should like to know. The investigation, too, 

 might go some distance toward deciding as to the normal exist- 

 ence of the net-work. If the killing current alters the corpuscles 

 in form and in size, as it does, it is reasonable to suppose that 

 changes should take place in the internal structure, if there nor- 

 mally is any internal structure. There have been many widely 

 differing kinds of suggestions as to what practical use murderers 

 should be put; there seems to be a desire to make them of some 

 service after death or even before death, for scientific experiments. 

 Some competent microscopist within convenient distance of New' 

 York's State Prison at Auburn, may thus make good use of one 

 murderer by investigating this interesting question. 



Histologists claim to have proved that a solution of potassium 

 bichromate does not alter the structure of protoplasm. If this be 



