A lecture on the true nature and origin of the salivary globules, and their identity with the white corpuscles of the blood / by Joseph G. Richardson.

  • Richardson, Joseph Gibbons, 1836-1886.
Date:
1874
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A lecture on the true nature and origin of the salivary globules, and their identity with the white corpuscles of the blood / by Joseph G. Richardson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    before seea ia similar cells deposited from the renal secretion, and hun- dreds of times in the salivary globules. The action of aniline solution resulted in rendering visible beautifully distinct, definite nuclei, anal- ogous to those found in the salivary bodies. About this time, as many of you will remember, appeared the an- nouncement of Prof. Cohnheim's remarkable researches, establishing the identity of white blood- and pus-corpuscles in the frog; and the opportunity of at least partly corroborating them in regard to human beings thus obviously presenting itself, I contrived the following ex- periments for that purpose: Drawing a drop of blood from the tip of my finger (by puncture with a cataract-needle) upon a glass slide, to which was attached a small reservoir composed of the lower half of a two-drachm vial, 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 and well-characterized amoeboid movements, I raised the objective out of the way, and arranged a fine filament of thread to act as a syphon from the little reservoir (previously filled with fresh water) to the upper edge of the cover, and a fragment of moistened paper to the lower, according to the usual method of securing a constant current beneath the thin glass. On depressing the body of the instrument, and thus bringing the corpuscle again into view, I found it still adhering to the under surface of the cover, notwithstanding the torrent of red globules hurrying across the field; and as these became paler and less distinct through exosmosis of their colored contents by reason of the diminished density of the serum (which of course was all the time being diluted by the water conveyed to it by the miniature syphon), the white cell first gradually expanded, and displayed its delicate wall, with two rounded nuclei; then, after acquiring the magnitude of ^^^^> it exhibited the rapid and incessant movement of its contained mole- cules ; and finally, when its diameter reached about yto^ of an inch, it burst suddenly, discharging a portion of its contents, whose outbreak resembled that of a swarm of bees from a hive, and some particles of which, actively revolving as they went, swam off to the confines of the microscopic field. On repeating the observation, and allowing some aniline solution to flow in with the water, after the first few minutes the nuclei were strongly stained and rendered beautifully distinct, although the movement of the molecules promptly ceased; in this re- spect, as in all others, showing, so far as observed, a precise identity with the reaction afforded by the pus and the salivary corpuscles, as already described. This investigation can be very readily repeated by any one who pos- sesses a microscope and a good ^, or even ^ inch immersion objective ; and as it is the turning point upon which, supported by other researches,