EXAMINATION OF ANIMAL FLUIDS. 687 



form of granules, having a central dark spot, by the addition ol 

 strong acetic acid, which dissolves the cell-wall. , (Fig. 403.) In 



Fia. 403. Fig. 404. 



scrofulous pus and in various unhealthy discharges, these corpus- 

 cles lose their globular form, and are found surrounded with 

 numerous molecules and granules. (Fig. 404.) In gangrenous 

 and ichorous pus they are mixed with broken-down blood-glo- 

 bules, remains of tissue, &c. 



Dr. Beale makes the following judicious remarks with regard 

 to these pus-corpuscles. " The cells above referred to have been 

 considered as characteristic of pus, and much trouble was taken, 

 in the earlier days of microscopical research, to assign definite 

 characters to them, by which they might be distinguished from 

 the so-called mucus-corpuscle, and other cells which they much 

 resemble. Such a distinction, however, cannot be made, for, in 

 the first place, cells may be .obtained which present various 

 stages, apparently intermediate between an ordinary epithelial 

 cell, and a pus-globule ; secondly, cells agreeing in their micro- 

 scopical characters with the pus-globule, are not unfrequently 

 formed on the surface of a mucous membrane, without its func- 

 tion being seriously impaired, and certainly without the occur- 

 rence of those preliminary changes which usually precede the 

 formation of pus ; and, thirdly, cells are found in the lymph, in 

 the blood, in the lymphatic glands, in the serous fluid in the in- 

 terior of cysts, and in many other situations, which in their size, 

 form, and general appearance so much resemble the globules 

 found in true pus, that it is quite impossible to assign characters 

 by which they may be distinguished. The figures of these cells, 

 as they appear before and after treatment by acetic acid, often 

 could not be distinguished from the figures of pus-cells, treated 

 in a similar manner, given by the same authors. 



" Cases occur in which it appears almost useless to attempt to 

 decide as to the presence or absence of pus, if only a few glo- 

 bules are to be found (nor do I think that if such were possible, 

 it would be of any advantage), because no characters by which 

 the globules can be distinguished individually have been laid 

 down. 



" At the same time it must not be supposed that the diagnosis 

 of pus is a matter of secondary importance ; and all that is in- 

 tended in introducing these observations is to impress upon the 

 student the importance of not stating that pns has been found in 



