66 Transactions of the Royal Microscopical Society. 
In the second place, it bears upon the question, still undecided, 
concerning the relationship of the haemoglobin to the protoplasm. 
According to the theories of those histologists who regard the 
coloured blood-corpuscle as consisting of two different substances, 
the true seat of the haemoglobin would he in the interstices of the 
porous substance. By another theory, more plausible than the 
preceding, the existing relationship of the haemoglobin to the proto- 
plasm of the blood-corpuscle would he that of an intimate mixture, 
without any chemical combination. Now, in consideration of the 
phenomenon (Fig. 13) under discussion, two different -views 
regarding the true seat of the haemoglobin may he taken. That 
is, either it is held hy the protoplasm, and in this case escaped from 
that portion of protoplasm denuded of its overlying membraneous 
layer (Fig. 13, a) into the surrounding liquor sanguinis ; or, judging 
from the coloured portions (6), it is situated in the form of a thin 
stratum hetiveen the membraneous layer and the main body of the 
protoplasm. If the latter should prove to he true, it would he, 
anatomically as well as physiologically, an interesticg discovery. 
When a minute portion of the blood of the Amphiuma is quickly 
transferred from the blood-vessels to the glass slide, and examined 
under the microscope, the coloured blood-corpuscles, with a few 
exceptions, present a normal appearance, such as before described. 
In almost all of them the nucleus can be well discerned, though its 
contours appear frequently somewhat indistinct. In some cases it 
appears quite distinct, while in others it is more or less hidden from 
view. The cause of this is its position, according as it happens to 
lie farther from or nearer to that surface of the blood- corpuscle 
which is towards the eye of the observer. 
The nucleus represents a vesicle containing a number of large 
granules of irregular shape and size ; its vesicular nature is indi- 
cated by a double contour, which, like the granules, is distinguished 
hy a feeble greenish tint, while the rest of the nucleus is perfectly 
colourless. 
Soon after the blood has been transferred from the vessels to 
the slide, certain changes of form are observed gradually to take 
place in a number of blood -corpuscles. These changes of form 
(Figs. 3 to 12), often very grotesque, are caused by a contraction 
of the protoplasm. They are usually preceded by a disturbance 
observed in the uniformity of the colour of the blood-corpuscle, 
announcing itself by some portions of the corpuscle appearing 
darker or more shaded than the rest. In some instances, however, 
the changes remain confined to the form, as in the Figures 3, 4, 
7, 8, and 9, without any disturbance in the uniformity of colour. 
But in those cases where the blood-corpuscle by an energetic con- 
traction of its protoplasm is thrown into wrinkles, as in the Figures 
5, 6, 10, 11, and 12, the uniformity of colour is always disturbed 
