The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1896-05-26

Under fairly high power Of the micro
scope blood is seen to present Itself as
huid clear as water (the lymph or serum
Of physiological, and to derive its color
| from the presence Of an enormous num-
| Der OF microscopic bodies which fioat In
the liquid. These bodies are the red cor
| puscles Seen en- masse, they give TO blood
| its well known hue. Under the micro
| scope and spread out in thin layer, their
color is seen to be OF yellowish tint. AS
regards size the red corpuscles measure, on
an average, about ree-thoufandth
OF an inch I'm diameter. Each Is bi-con-
cave disk, SO that when we look at a corp
uscle Sideways. IL presents something OF
| a dumbbell shape. This description ap-
plies to the blood OF man and OF other
mammals at large, except the camel-tribe,
which. curiousiy enough, have red corp
ucles not circular in shape, as In other
quadrupeds, but oval in contour. Fishes,
frogs, sfeptlles and birds possess red
corpuscles OF oval or elliptical shape, and
each possesses nucleus or central parti-
Gle which is wanting in mammals.
In addition 10 the red blood corpusclcs
we find in the blood certain very small
colorless ones, called "blood platelets. "
or these We need take no further snotice
here; but, existing in the proportion OF
about two or three to every thousand red
red ones, we find the white corpuscles of
the blood. These corpuscles are color
red neighbors, which are colored with
substance called hemoglobin, whereof
iron Is prominent constituent But more
important Is IL to note that in its consti-
tuition each white corpuscle Is a very
different body from its red neighbor. 1t
is really microscopic mass of living
protoplasm. 1t has nucleus in Its in
terror, and in every respect we may re-
gard ii as living cell. Moreover, IL be-
haves itself as an independent cell, just
as the researchers of early days informed
us. Watched on specially prepared mi
croscopic slide we see the white corpuscle
flow from one shape TO another. In this
respect 1t moves by alterations of its
protoplasmic substance, just as deos the
animalcule We know as the ampba,
denizen OF stagnant waters everywhere.
This likeness of motion TO that OF the anil
malcule of the pool has procured for the
changes of the white corpuscles the term
"am9boid" movements. -
Wonderful as it is to think that our
blood teens with myriads of these inde-
pendent living blood cells. Ii is yet more
extraordinary to find that they resemble
the animalcule in another respect. The
am1ba eats by engulfing its food parti-
cles with its soft protoplasm body. In
like manner will white. blood corpuscle
feed itself 1t will engulf and INCEST
solid PARTICLES which fall in its way, and
will reject indieestible matters. That
work which we see the white corpuscle
doing on the microscopic slide, IL effects
within the ANIMAL tissues. We know now,
as DIR. Waller knew n..1S46, that in virtue
of its independent life, 1t can push it's
way through the soft, delicate walls of
capillary blood vessels and pass into the
tissues. In place of regarding these To-
comotive powers as ways and works of
UNUSUAL character, We now see that they
form part and parcel OF the complex liv-
ing mechanism. While IL Is the duty of
the red corpuscles TO carry the oxygen
breathed into the blood TO all parts of
the body, and conversely to convey the
waste carbonic acid gas to the lungs,
there to be exhaled, the function Of the
white corpuscles is of far more complicat-
ed character. They perform duty which
not only lies very close to the mainten-
ance of the organism at large In natural
sense, but which also bears an important
relation to its preservation from agencies
that perpetually threaten it with disease
and death. From "The Battle of the
Cells" by DIR. Andrew Wilson in Har-
per's Magazine for June.