﻿FIELD AND FOREST. Si 



lulose or other vegetable matter present in them. Plate I represents 

 a form of cellulose I have found while experimenting on brain. 

 The discs and blue color are produced by the action of the acids and 

 iodine. The editor of the London Microscopic Journal, in his last 

 edition, wholly misconceives and misconstrues the objects of my micro- 

 chemical investigations, and asked the question, " Will any one who 

 has ever examined the blood under a high- power read the subjacent 

 lines with approval ? * * * Why, he could barely see the blood- 

 globules of man with such a power," (150 diameters.) I hope that 

 those who may read the present article, as well as my former ones, will 

 not fail to understand that I allude to amylaceous discs. When I pro- 

 pose to examine the blood corpuscles I shall use powers suitable for that 

 purpose. 



I believe the method I propose to detect cellulose in its various 

 forms, the tubular, membraneous, and amorphous conditions, is new. 

 The following will illustrate my views : Place in a beaker, say 50 grains 

 of clean cotton or flax fiber, to which add about one ounce of muriatic 

 acid, (concentrated,) and apply a gentle heat; when the cotton is half 

 dissolved, stop the action ; when cold, add a quantity of distilled water 

 to the mixture, when a white precipitate will fall ; remove the precipitate 

 and dry it, and keep it in a bottle for use. Place a small portion of 

 this mixture, composed of partially dissolved and precipitated cellulose, 

 on a microscopic slide and apply the acids and iodine, as described in 

 the blood-experiment, when a very interesting sight will be seen. The 

 precipitated cellulose (amorphous) will appear blue, but without struc- 

 ture, while the undissolved, tubular fiber will be changed into discs, 

 more or less depending on the chemical action used in the last experi- 

 ment. Some vegetable-cell membranes may be converted into the blue 

 amylaceous conditions, as that of the orange and lemon, while the 

 starch-cells of the potato are never rendered blue by this process, 

 although doubtless cellulose. I propose to investigate and demonstrate, 

 by these tests, the presence of cellulose, or it may be its absence, in 

 animal tissues and fluids. 



The application of a solution of iodine, simply to corpora amylacea 

 is not a favorable method of defining the true character of the sub- 

 stance. If corpora amylacea were originally cellulose the purple, or 

 redish color, produced by the simple use of iodine would only indicate 

 that a degeneracy of the cellulose had taken place by animal ferments^ 



