An account of certain organisms occurring in the liquor sanguinis / by William Osler.

  • William Osler
Date:
1874
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An account of certain organisms occurring in the liquor sanguinis / by William Osler. 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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    In size they vary greatly, from half or quarter that of a white blood- corpuscle, to enormous masses occupying a large area of the field or even stretching completely across it. They usually assume a somewhat round or oval form, but may be elongated and narrow, or, from the existence of numerous projections, offer a very irregular outline. They have a compact solid look, and by focusing are seen to possess consider- able depth ; while in specimens examined without any reagents the fila- ments of fibrin adhere to them, and, entangled in their interior, white corpuscles are not unfrequently met with. It is not from every mass that a judgment can be formed of their true nature, as the larger, more closely arranged ones have rather the appear- ance of a granular body, and it is with difficulty that the individual elements can be focused. When, however, the more loosely composed ones are chosen, their intimate composition can be studied to advantage, especially at the borders, where only a single layer of corpuscles mav exist; and w'hen examined with a high power (9 or 10 Hartnack) these corpuscles are seen to be pale round disks, devoid of granules and with well-defined contours. Some of the corpuscles generally float free in the fluid about the mass ; and if they turn half over their profile view has the appearance of a sharp dark line (fig. 5, a & b). In water the individual corpuscles composing the mass swell greatly; dilute acetic acid renders them more distinct, while dilute potash solutions quickly dissolve them. Measurements give, for the large proportion of the corpuscles, a diameter ranging from one 8000th to one 10,000th of an inch ; the largest are as much as one 5000th, and the smallest from one 15,000th to one 24,000th of an inch; so that they may be said to be from | the size of a red corpuscle. In the blood of cats, rabbits, dogs, guineapigs, and rats the masses are to be found in variable numbers. New-born rats are specially to be recommended as objects of study, as in their blood the masses are commonly both numerous and large. They occur also in the blood of foetal kittens. Considering their prevalence in disease and among some of the lower animals, they have attracted but little notice, and possess a comparatively scanty literature. The late Prof. Max Schultze * was the first, as far as I can ascertain, to describe and figure the masses in question. He speaks of them as constant constituents of the blood of healthy individuals, but concludes that we know nothing of their origin or destiny, suggesting, however, at the same time that they may arise from the degeneration of granular white corpuscles. Schultze’s observations were confined to the blood of healthy persons, and he seemed of the opinion that no pathological significance was to be attributed to them. By far the most systematic account is given by Dr. Pi ess +, in an * Archiv f. mik. Anat. Bd. i. f Reichert u. Du BoiH-Beymond’e Archiv, 1^72. . if*
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