64 
MR. T. WHARTON JONES ON THE BLOOD-CORPUSCLE CONSIDERED IN 
5. By the action of water, the cell-wall becomes distended so that it is enlarged 
in diameter ; at the same time the aggregation of the grannies becomes less close 
and their appearance of fusion less ; sometimes I have seen the granules suddenly 
collapse and flatten under the action of water, as if they had been small vesicles 
bursting (fig. 2 a.). 
6. By the action of acetic acid much diluted, the granulous mass is dissolved, but 
the cell-wall is left, and in its interior there is now distinctly seen a cellaeform nucleus, 
about 4 zo o th of an inch in diameter (fig. 2 b.). I have watched individual cells during 
the action of the acid on them, and have seen one granule disappearing after another 
in the most beautiful and striking manner, until the nucleus came into view. 
7. I have above spoken of the granule blood-cell as being of a roundish form : as 
the blood of the Skate subjected to examination was obtained from the blood-vessels 
of the viscera already removed from the animal, I cannot say what form the granule 
blood-cell would present in blood drawn from the animal during life and forthwith 
examined. But in some examples of the blood which I examined, and which was 
obtained at a time which could not have been long after the death of the animal, the 
granule-cells at first presented most remarkable changes of shape and other pheno- 
mena immediately to be described, which after a time ceased to be presented, the cells 
settling into a round form. 
8. As the changes of shape and other phenomena to which I refer, resembled ap- 
pearances presented by what we shall find to be the corresponding corpuscle in the 
blood of the Frog and of other animals, drawn during life, I am disposed to believe 
that they will also be found presented by the granule-cells of blood actually drawn 
from the living Skate. 
9. My attention was first attracted to the phenomena by observing a granule-cell 
with the granules apparently escaping from it as if burst (fig. 3.). But the cell soon 
appearing again with all the granules collected together, I was led to watch, and soon 
perceived that the appearance of granules escaping, as if from a burst cell, was owing 
to this : — the transparent and colourless cell-wall bulged out on one side, leaving the 
granules still agglomerated and holding together, but this only for a short time ; 
for soon single granules were seen to separate and burst out from the rest, and 
to enter the hitherto empty compartment produced by the bulging out of the 
cell-wall. The regular manner in which this sometimes took place was remarkable. 
I have actually seen the granules enter the compartment by one side and circulate 
along the bulging cell-wall to the other side, until the whole compartment became 
filled with granules. This having occurred the bulging began to subside, but was 
succeeded by a bulging of another part of the cell-wall, into which again a flow of 
granules took place ; and so on all round the cell. 
10. Structure of the Red Oval Corpuscle . — This is readily recognised to be an oval- 
shaped cell, with a nucleus round or oval, and with red-coloured contents. It thus 
resembles the well-known red corpuscle of the blood of the Frog, in structure as well 
