Observations of the growth and reproduction of the red corpuscles of the blood.

  • Bakewell, Robert Hall.
Date:
[1874]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations of the growth and reproduction of the red corpuscles of the blood. 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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    the tubes were closed witli mcllecl •« ax, but the air bubble always appeared. Under tlie microscope it was apparent that the Eed Corpuscles were dividing by budding and fissure. Many arc elongated and oval, others arc nearly divided; there aio many small cii'cular bodies of same colour as the red cori;iisclcs but much smaller. This is copied fi'om notes lalcen at the lime. The next day another specimen kept under the same (•ouditions is noted as having great diversities in size of the red corpuscles, but, as a rule, much smaller. The next day it is noted that there are still red corpuscles dividing, and inauy in ]/airs, as if not yet separated. A number of pale colls like decolourized red corpuscles. All these disappear with acetic acid. These notes were made primarily with reference to the reproduction of vaccine and pus, and with no intention of experimenting on the red corpuscles, which had got in acci- dentally. About this time having under his care some cases of croupous pneumonia the writer examined the rusty coloured sputa, and then found that in specimens distinctly coloured 1o the naked eye, there was either very few, or, in some cases, nonoi-nalrcd corpuscles, but many presenting various ir- regular forms and especially many small spheroidal bodies of the colour of blood corpuscles, anJ. similar to those noted above. These observations coincided with those made by Bealc, as far as the changes in form go, but he does not speak of them as occurring out of the body. , In the sputum of pneumonia many rows of red corpuscles will be seen, somewhat altered in shape, generally much swollen, and arranged like a string of beads. These are often pulled out by the mucus, in which they are entangled. If this mucus be submitted to the heat of the human body for a few hours, in place of these strings of red corpuscles there