The San Francisco call., 1896-05-31
0SOMES OF ANIMAL CELLS SHOWN TO BE LIVING ORGANISMS
Remarkable Discovery of
DR.. Gustav EiSen.

to pass from one side of the nucleus to the
other. AS an independent organism it
may be as well able to direct its move
ments as an insect crawling on the outside
of an apple.
The Importance of the discovery may be
realized from the fact that it will change
the whole course of work of every micro
scopist in the world. Many theories of a
week ago have been made facts, or have
been proved to be untenable. DR.. Elsen's
Investigations have been so successful apd
his slides have turned out so perfectly
that there is no room for thinking that
phenomenon he has observed might mean
anything else. The reason the lnvestiga-
tions have turned out as they have is due
to the state. of the blood of the animal
from which 1t was taken and also to the
methods of staining.
For the scientific students of the world
DR.. Eisen has given THE CALL few ex-
tracts from the work he is preparing on
the subject. The following selections re-
fer only to the principal phases of the dis
covery; the details will make book of
hundreds of pages:
The elements of the blood of Batrachiseps
attenuatus are in several respects most inter
esting, differing in some points as do the cor
responding elements of any other species of
! batrachian which has come under my observa-
! tion. directly or indirectly. Batrachiseps at
tenuatus is one of the most common batra-
chians in this part of California and material
| for study may be had anywhere almost and at
| any time except during the dryest part of the
| summer when specimens are scarce. The ele-
| ments in the blood of this interesting animal
are in short as follows: Erythocites or red
,1O a
| from the red eorpusc cles in any other batraeh-
ian. First the vast majority, less than one per
cent at any time, do not possess any nucleus.
! The percentage which is indicated is some
what uncertain as have not made a sufficient
number of counting to ascertain the average,
but believe that one per cent is not much out
of the way. In some animals, especially in
early spring, the nucleated red cells are so
scarce that on well spread coverglass have
only found one single red corpuscle with
| nucleus. At other times they are more
numerous, so that in a field viewed under less
power-say Zeiss A, we may count 100 TO 200
nucleated cells, all the others having no
nucleus.
second-The red bloodcells are of greatly
varying size, not in different animals, but in
the same blood. Thus while many corpuscles
are very large others are very small We fre-
quently meet with red bloodcells as small
as those of the human blood, while the
largest may have five times this diameter.
And this variation in size is apparently not de-
pendent on the size of the animal, but appears
uniform in the respective individuals inves-
tigated.
Third-The red blood corpuscles vary very
materially as regards their shape. The major
ity of corpuscles are ovoid, as batrachian blood
in general, but many almost round or pear
shaped, and between these and the ovoid ones
there are all possible gradations and Varia-
tions
AS regards the nucleated red cells again, 1t is
not by any means the largest ones that are fur
nished with nucleus, but the smallest as well.
| Polymorphic leucocytes, similar to those
! generally seen in batrachia blood.
Noronuclear leucocytes, smaller than the
former, or lymphocytes
Easynophile leucocytes, of the same size as
the polynuclear ones, smaller in most ba-
trachian blood, but varying in size.
Fusiform elements, or degenerating nucle-
ated red corpuscles.
Degenerating leucocytes, of various forms
and sizes, generally larger than the regular
leueocytes. They occur in all stages of decom-
position.
Plasmocytes. apply this name to hith-
J erto undescribed element in the blood, so far
only as observed by me in the blood of batra-
. chiseps. These new elements are much smaller
than the average erytheocytes, and only
slightly larger than the smallest erytheocytes
They are somewhat larger than the erytheocytes
OF the human blood. They are characterized
? by the absence of cell membrane. They occur
/ in colsidera bic numbers and are more numer.
Gus than the nucleated red bloodce ellis.
The object is to establish the identity of these
, plasmocytes, to trace their origin, TO follo
their development, and to demonstrate and
prove that they constitute the centrosomes
and sphere of the nucleated red cells, which
have disengaged themselves from the degen
AZ IL a..
blood serum as free and independent ele
, ments, capable OF growth and assimilation Of
food
A. B. Macallum was he first one to deter
l mine satisfactorily that the fusiform elements
or eorpuscles in the blood of Necturus derive
: their origin directly from the red blood cor
puscles that they constitute in fact disintegrat
ing red nucleated corpuseles, the cell wall oi
. which have been destroyed ami the hemoglo
bin of which has been liberated. AS regards
the blood OF batrachiseps this origin of the
tusiiorm corpuscles is so apparent that few, il
any, comments are necessary. On my slides
: have frequently found indicated cells that ha6
4 been injured or in which from some other cause
{ the indicated cell membrane had been rup
tured or in which the hamoglobin had
escaped, leaving only the cell membrane as
ring around the nucleus, but at the proper
5 distance away. Such nuclei were surrounded
j, by exactly the same cytoplasm and stained in
: exactly the same way that of the fusiforn
p corpuscles, and could in them discern all tht
different spheres that have found in the fusi
form corpuscles. In other words the proto
D plasmic projections at the anchor poles re
: sembled exactly the plasmocytoblasts of tn
! fusiform corpuscles. On this account alone
f am satisfied of the correctness of Macallum'
= demonstration as regards the origin OF tn
= fusiform corpuscles.
But, furthermore, If drop of batrachisep
+ blood be mixed with drop of salt sol ution, o6
d and observed, we soon see how the red cell
It lose their h8moglobin, the cell mem branes col