ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
39 
Division I. 
I. Oxyphile. 
II. Basophile. 
III. Hyaline. 
Haemal cells ; charac- 
terized by being 
relatively small cells 
with fine specific 
granules. 
N ucleus branched ; 
specific granules 
small, with relatively 
feeble oxyphile 
reaction. 
Nucleus lobed ; 
specific granules 
very small. 
Nucleus round ; 
no specific 
1 granules. 
Division II. 
Cells of coelomic and j 
interstitial spaces, 
characterized by large 
size of cells and 
granules. 
Nucleus crescentic ; 
specific granules 
large, with intense 
oxyphile reaction. 
Nucleus round ; 
granules very 
large. 
Nucleus round ; 
no specific 
granules. 
From these differences it will not be difficult to see that there are two 
kinds of leucocytosis, in which the cells are, respectively, mainly of the 
coelomic or of the haemal type. In all the cases investigated by the 
authors the first cells to accumulate at a leucocytic focus were oxyphile 
cells ; of these the coarsely granular accumulate more quickly than the 
finely granular forms. When a conflict with bacilli is watched in hanging 
drops of blister fluid the coarsely granular oxyphile cells are seen to 
attack the bacilli, and to suffer thereby a diminution of granulation. 
The attack is rapid, and is quickly followed by phagocytosis ; this latter 
commences at a much earlier period than is generally supposed, and is at 
its maximum in about 25 minutes after the introduction of the bacilli ; it 
is always carried out by the hyaline cells. 
The authors find the main interest of the facts they have discovered 
in the marked difference between the activities of the coarsely granular 
oxyphile cell and the hyaline cell, and they are inclined to regard these 
cells as morphological units as distinct as are the striped and unstriped 
cells of muscular tissue. 
Beading of Nerve-Fibres.* — Mr. E. J. Allen calls attention to the 
varicose or beaded appearance so often presented by nerve-fibres in pre- 
parations made by the methylen-blue method, or by the method of 
Golgi, and to the swellings which occur on the finer nerve-endings. He 
concludes that both phenomena are due to a simple physical cause — the 
difference of surface tension between two fluids. He points out that a 
fluid cylinder surrounded by some other fluid of different surface tension 
is in a condition of unstable equilibrium, and tends to break up into 
spherical drops. He has been able to produce almost similar appear- 
ances by putting a drop of a thick syrup of gum and sugar in the centre 
of a glass slide, which has been covered with a layer of paraffin oil. If 
fine threads are drawn from the syrup across the oiled surface of the 
glass, with a rough needle, these threads will, on examination under the 
Microscope, be seen to be beaded, and generally take on all the various 
forms assumed by nerve-fibres. 
Quart. Journ. Micr. Sci., xxxvi. (1894) pp. 492-8 (5 figs.). 
