12 
Journal of the 
Economy,” in the Australian Medical Journal , 1866, and reprinted 
in full in the quarterly journal of Microscopical Science , Oct. 1866 ; 
“ Observations and Experiments with the Microscope on the Effects 
of various Chemical Agents on the Blood,” Australian Medical 
Journal, A ug. 1866 ; *‘ Observations and Experiments with the 
Microscope on the Chemical Effects of Chloral Hydrate, Chloro¬ 
form, Prussic Acid, and other Agents on the Blood,” Australian 
Medical Journal , Feb. 1871. 
In the foregoing paper, submitted to the Microscopical Society 
of Victoria, reference has been made merely to the changes which 
have been noticed in the blood under the action of chemical 
substances, and notably that of hydrocyanic acid; but there is 
another and a most important aspect of the subject bearing on 
pathology, to which I now allude, separate from the interests of 
the above society. 
It will be borne in mind that the action of hydrocyanic acid 
resulted in the production of blue particles in the blood, and also that 
of starchy matter in the form of starch-like grains, I have, in 
administering the acid to patients, distinctly recognised the 
presence of the blue particles, and have found that these have 
diminished in quantity as soon as the remedy has been withdrawn, 
i.e.y after two or three days’ discontinuance. I have also noticed, 
in two cases of epilepsy, the presence of blue particles in the 
blood when examined by itself under the microscope, and apart 
from any employment of remedial agents, leading me to this idea 
—that these cases may have originated in a toxic state of the 
blood, analogous to that produced by the action of hydrocyanic 
poison, how generated in the system, or from what exciting cause, 
it is impossible at present to determine; and that the blood in 
these cases was in such a condition of change as probably to induce 
an accompanying deposit of starchy material in the line of some 
nerve structures. One of these cases was affected with hemi¬ 
plegia, but ultimately recovered ; the blood was examined within 
an hour after the attack. The other case has been a subject of 
epilepsy in a moderate form for years, and when noticeably worse, 
exhibits blue particles in the blood. Under such circumstances 
of a disturbed chemical state of the blood, starch-like material 
may be formed in it, and perhaps deposited as starch in those 
