55S Organic Physics. [July, 



ing to them another duty and destiny. These corpuscles exist 

 abundantly in the blood, but they also exist in equal abundance 

 in the lymph, from which the blood seems to derive them. It is 

 known that they arise independently in the lymph, and in any 

 exuded blastema in contact with a living surface, as in the fluid of 



But the lymph is a liquid which exists in direct contact with 

 perhaps every cell of every active tissue of the body. It appar- 

 ently originates in a nutrient fluid which exudes from the blood 

 through the walls of the vessels. It bathes and yields nutriment 

 to the active cells, and carries off their waste materials. And it 

 seemingly carries off more than this, for the white corpuscles 

 make their appearance in the most, interior lymphatic channels, 

 anterior to the lymphatic glands. Thus they arise in the blastema 

 in direct contact with every portion of every tissue, and are pos- 

 sibly formed under the direct influence of the tissues in which 

 they appear, if they are not indeed exuded and vital portions of 

 the living tissues. 



Their increased numbers in the lymph as it approaches the 

 blood indicates a continued life action, a division resembling that 

 of the individual Protozoan. In fact the whole behavior of these 

 corpuscles significantly reminds us of that of the lower Protozoa. 

 If existing outside the body, they would be taken for individual 

 Amoebae, for they are in organization and behavior indistinguish- 

 able from the lowly organized animal known as the Amoeba. They 

 constantly advance and retract pseudopodia, which process con- 

 stitutes the amoeboid life function, and are, like the Amoebae, 

 composed of a nucleated mass of protoplasm. Thus they m 

 every respect simulate the lower Protozoa. 



If the white blood corpuscles increase in numbers by division, 

 as seems evident, they must also assimilate nutriment and grow. 

 The constant change of form of the Amcebae is a nutrient func- 



cles. In fact, we have direct evidence of this. They have been 

 proved by the addition of coloring matter to their containing 

 fluid, to absorb material from this fluid, retain it for a while, and 

 then reject the innutritious colored granules. 



There is only one function wanting to complete the whole cycle 

 of Protozoan life, that of conjugation, or sexual union. This has 

 not been shown to occur in the case of the leucocytes. But there 



