American Veterinary Review, 
JUNE, 1879. 
ORIGINAL ARTICLES. 
REPORT ON THE DISEASE IN CATTLE KNOWN AS 
“ANTHRAX.” 
By Prof. D. McEachran, F.K.C.V.S. 
(Continued from page 59.) 
HEALTHY BLOOD. 
The fluid which circulates in the tubes called blood-vessels, 
serving the double purpose of carrying nutriment to and remov¬ 
ing waste material from the various organs of the body, is not, as 
might be supposed from mere opticial inspection, a homogenous 
fluid, but consists of two kinds of organized particles, called cor¬ 
puscles or blood globules, which float in a transparent colorless 
fluid called the plasma or liquor sanguinis. 
The red corpuscles are by far the most numerous, and they 
give the fluid its characteristic red color; they are round bicon¬ 
cave discs, at one time supposed to be cells, but now looked upon 
as homogeneous masses of stroma without either nucleus or en¬ 
closing membrane. “ The color is due to the presence of a 
peculiar coloring matter which can be separated from them without 
destroying them, being attached either by mere imbibition after 
the manner of a dyed fabric, or else by some easily disturbed 
chemical affinity.” 
