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Dr. W. Stirling and A. Rannie. 



to recognize the well-known double rhomboid form of haemoglobin 

 crystals." The crystals which we found, however, were deposited in 

 the fluid after the solution of the corpuscles under the action of 

 ammonium hydrate. 



Sulplw- Cyanide of Ammonium. 



The action of this reagent on the coloured blood-corpuscle is, 

 perhaps, one of the most interesting which we have examined — not 

 only as regards its immediate action, but also as regards the ultimate 

 effect it produces upon the nucleus in which it reveals an intranuclear 

 plexus of fibrils with the greatest distinctness. (Fig. 8, a, b.) 



On irrigating blood with a 10 per cent, solution of this salt, the 

 corpuscles first became somewhat larger, and clear bands appeared in 

 the perinuclear part. (Fig. 6, a.) The direction of these bands was 

 generally across the long axis of the corpuscles. The corpuscle 

 looked as if there were a series of folds or creases in it. The effect 

 was thus similar to the early effect produced by citric and tartaric 

 acids upon the corpuscles, except that the clear bands were more 

 numerous in the case of the salt. The nucleus at the same time was 

 brought out more distinctly, though still remaining pale, and the out- 

 line of its intranuclear plexus was faintly seen. 



On selecting a corpuscle and observing the effect of the reagent 

 closely, it was seen after a minute or two to lose its barred 

 appearance, and then small, highly refractive, coloured globules began 

 to form near the edge of the corpuscle. These small globules were 

 soon seen on the outside of the corpuscle, to which they remained 

 # attached for a few seconds by a tailed process of their own substance. 

 The droplets began to exhibit active molecular or Brownian move- 

 ments. The processes connecting the globules to the outside of the 

 corpuscle soon gave way, and then the spherical masses of coloured 

 protoplasm began to dance about over the field of the microscope, in 

 active molecular movement. (Fig. 6, c, d, e, /.) The margin of the 

 corpuscle was left crenated, or rather dentated, and from the denta- 

 tions other small globules began to come off and dance about like their 

 predecessors. After some of these small globules were cast off, or at 

 least after the threads which fixed them to the corpuscle were severed, 

 which one can see taking place in the field of the microscope, the 

 corpuscle often assumes a variety of shapes, giving out a lobose pro- 

 cess, which may also change its shape and dimensions. (Fig. 6, n, p, q.) 

 It is most interesting to watch the liberation of the droplets, and the 

 variety of shapes assumed by the corpuscle. The detached droplets 

 gradually become decolorised. The corpuscle begins to shrink visibly 

 in size as the droplets extrude from it, and at the same time becomes 

 darker in colour. The dentations disappear with the shrinking of the 

 corpuscles, which commenced about five or six seconds after the first 



