On the identity of the white corpuscles of the blood with the salivary, pus, and mucous corpuscles / by Joseph G. Richardson.

  • Richardson, Joseph Gibbons, 1836-1886.
Date:
[between 1860 and 1869?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the identity of the white corpuscles of the blood with the salivary, pus, and mucous corpuscles / by Joseph G. Richardson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    occurred to me that they were perhaps only contracted by the exosmose of their fluid contents into the surrounding denser medium, and the idea suggested itself to try the effect of diminishing the specific gravity of the uinne by the addition of water. Under this treatment I found that the cells which had been exhibiting amoebaform movements, soon assumed a spherical shape, rapidly enlarged until they reached the diameter of about j^'o^th of an inch, when the contained molecules began to revolve, and ere long took upon themselves the extremely rapid and confused move- ments which I had twice before seen in cells occurring in urine, and hundreds of times in the salivary corpuscles; the action of aniline solution rendered beautifully distinct, defi- nite nuclei similar to those found in the salivary bodies. The opportunity of corroborating the interesting and re- markable researches of Dr. Cohuheim, of Berlin, on the identity of the pus and white blood corpuscles thus obviously presenting itself, I proceeded with the following experiments. Drawing a drop of blood from the tip of my finger upon a growing slide, I covered it with thin glass and placed it upon the stage of the microscope. After finding a white blood corpuscle showing well-marked granules, I raised the objective, and arranged a fine filament of thread from the reservoir filled with fresh water to the upper edge of the cover, and a fragment of wet paper to the lower, according to the usual method for securing a constant current beneath the thin glass. On depressing the body of the instrument and bringing the corpuscle again into view, I found it still adhering to the surface of the cover, notwithstanding the torrent of red globules hurrying over the field, and as these became paler and less distinct by reason of the diminished density of the serum, the white cell first gradually expanded and displayed its delicate wall with two rounded nuclei, then, after acquiring the magnitude of about yVoyth of an inch, it exhibited the rapid and incessant movement of its contained molecules, and finally, when its diameter reached about _ji^^th of an inch, it burst suddenly, discharging a portion of its contents, whose outbreak resembled that of a swarm of