228

Natural History.

ZOOLOGY.

CORPUSCLES OF MAMMIFEROUS BLOOD.

DR. BARRY has communicated to the Royal Society the following recapitulation of his views on the Corpuscles of Mammiferous Blood.

No observer can learn the structure of the Blood-Corpuscles who does not carefully investigate their mode of origin, and patiently follow them through all their changes. Where are these changes to be seen? Not in blood taken from large vessels, which are merely channels for conveying it, but in that contained, and almost at rest, in the capillaries, and especially in the capillary plexuses and dilatations; a remark which I believe is new, though many figures published by myself in the Philosophical Transactions show the observations on which it is grounded to have been long since made. But there is another source from which every information has been obtained-the large cells in the ovum. From these the Corpuscles of the Blood seem to have descended; and they undergo changes essentially the same.

1. The mammiferous blood-corpuscle, like one of the cells of the ovum, is at first a disc, or what is now called a "cytoblast ;" i. e. a cell-germ. It is not a flattened vesicle or cell. Like other discs or cytoblasts, however, it may and does become a cell; but then it is no longer flat. In the blood-disc you see a central, colourless, concave portion, around which lies the red colourless matter.

2. As usually met with, the blood-disc is round, with the exception of two or three instances, in which, from the observations of Mandi, in France, and Gulliver, in this country, it has been discovered to be elliptical. I have since found that even in mammals, where the blood-disc is usually met with round, its original form is elliptical. I have seen this to be the original form of the blood-disc in man.

3. The discs first become round, continuing flat; subsequently they pass into an orange-shape, and lastly become globular. They also very much increase in size.

4. Along with these alterations in the form and size of the blood-discs, there takes place another change. Instead of a mere concavity, there is now seen a colourless, pellucid, semi-fluid substance; which, as the corpuscle becomes orange-shaped, is found to be, not in the centre, but on one side. It is the nucleus of the corpuscle-the corpuscle itself having become a cell. This pellucid substance, or nucleus, divides and gives off globules. Each globule, appropriating to itself new matter, becomes a disc; and each disc, undergoing changes like the first, gives origin to other discs, a group of which constitutes the colourless corpuscle of the blood: for, with the changes now mentioned, the red colouring matter is consumed. Thus, as the red pass into the colourless corpuscles, there must exist all intermediate stages; between them no line of distinction can be drawn*.

5. The corpuscles of the blood are propagated by means of parent cells. A parent cell has its origin in a colourless corpuscle; this colourless cor

The colourless corpuscles in other vertebrata, for instance the batrachians, being much smaller than their red corpuscles, cannot be these red corpuscles in an altered state. Nor is any such change to be expected here. The red corpuscles usually seen circulating in these animals are not, as in mammalia, discs, but nucleated cells. Some of these nucleated cells, how

puscle being an altered disc. As the parent cell is forming, the new discs within it gradually become red, and are at length liberated to give origin in like manner to new discs, or to be appropriated in some other way.

6. From Section 4 it will be seen that the disc, or so-called "cytoblast," is originally a pellucid globule; which globule therefore is the true cell-germ. 7. Sometimes the quantity of the pellucid substance in the blood-cell is very much increased. This takes place at the expense of the red colouring matter which surrounds it. The blood-corpuscles, now cells, I have seen in various parts collected until the capillaries were completely filled with them, and until they had become pressed together into many-sided objects. I have met with vessels at the edge of the crystalline lens, some parts of which presented no other than the pellucid semi-fluid substance, arisen in the manner now described, and no longer contained within the cells.

8. This originally colourless substance, derived from the nuclei of bloodcells, and nearly filling the capillaries as I have found it, appears to constitute the essential part of coagulable lymph, to organize the same, and to give origin to the tissues, &c. in the manner I have elsewhere described. It seems to be this same originally colourless substance, derived from the nuclei of blood-cells, that forms the exudation-corpuscles of authors, the fibres of false membrane, and the filaments in coagulating blood-filaments which, as I have shown, here and there arise while this substance is still within the cells.—Philosophical Magazine, No. 146.

Abstracts of Dr. Barry's Memoirs will be found in the Year-Book of Facts, 1841 and 1842.

FUNCTIONS OF NUTRITION IN ANIMALS.

On Feb. 17, Mr. Fownes lectured at the Royal Institution, on this subject. The bodies of animals were described as made up of elements with which the chemist is familiar, but that, in consequence of their union with the mysterious principle which we call life, they suffer much modification, and are not so easily studied as is mere inorganic matter. The three great constituents of animal matter-albumen, fibrine, and casein-were severally described. The first was contained in white of egg, and obtained as a precipitate from solution in acetic acid, by adding water; the second, obtained in a white stringy form, by whipping blood with twigs; and the third is found in milk only, and developed by adding rennet. They all exist in soluble as well as insoluble states: they may change into each other, and are all composed of the same elements-carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, sulphur, and phosphorus; and each appears to possess the same quantity of the four first named, but to vary in the quantity of the last two. Experiments were introduced in illustration of this similarity of constitution. The blood was then described as the food or source whence the supply of these materials was drawn; and in reference to its red hue, and to the iron it contains, which is the cause of this hue, the lecturer said that the use of this metal in the animal economy has been long a mystery; but M. Liebig very ingeniously considers it to be the vehicle whereby oxygen is carried from the lungs to every part of the system. He reasons thus :-The arterial blood, in consequence of its

ever, give origin to discs having very much the same form, size, and general appearance, as the blood-discs of the mammalia. In the frog I saw such discs passing into the state of colourless globules, which, acted on by acetic acid, presented just the same appearance as the colourless corpuscles of the human subject.

having entered the lungs, becomes supplied with oxygen, and assumes the characteristic bright colour; this is due to the per-oxide of iron; as it reaches the capillaries a portion of the oxygen unites with the carbon of the system, forming carbonic acid, and literally, by a slow combustion, burning away the old material to give place for the new ; and the iron, in the form of prot-oxide, remains, giving the dark character to the venous blood. We can readily see the source whence the blood of carnivorous animals obtains the three constituents, for they are part and parcel of the very flesh they eat; but they are not so manifest in the food of herbivorous creatures. However, a very simple process enables the chemist to obtain from grain the very fibrine found in blood; from vegetable juices the very albumen found in egg ; and from beans the very caseine found in milk. The difference of opinion now existing between Liebig and Dumas, relative to the origin of fat, was alluded to,-the one thinking that animals fed on meal develope more fat than can be accounted for in the food they have eaten; the other thinking they do not. The consumption of material was stated to be in proportion to the amount of nervous energy developed; but how the two are linked as cause and effect, it is impossible to determine. The quiet easy man becomes fat; but deep-thinking and active men remain thin: fat is, as it were, a store of fuel against contingencies and hence, in cases of starvation, is first to disappear. -Polytechnic Journal.

SECRETION OF ANIMALS.

ON March 24th, was read to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, a paper "On the Ultimate Secreting Structure of Animals," by John Goodsir, Esq. The author infers from the whole inquiry, 1. That secretion is a function of the nucleated cell, and takes place within it; and, 2. That growth and secretion are identical-the same process under different circumstances.

Among other general conclusions deducible from these observations, it appeared that ducts are to be considered as intercellular passages, into which the secretions formed by cells are cast.

For details, see Jameson's Journal, No. 67.

STAMMERING.

M. COLOMBAT has detailed to the Academy of Sciences, at Paris, the process which he employs for the cure of Stammering; the chief of which are, inspiration before speaking; elevation of the tongue to the roof of the mouth, to depress the base of the tongue and larynx, and to diminish the convulsive tension of the glottis; position of the lips like during laughter, to prevent their protruding, before pronouncing the labials; and the following in speech a rhythm measured and graduated by means of an instrument which the author cails a muthonome, constructed on the principle of the metronome in use amongst mu

sicians.

VOCAL PHENOMENON.

THE Times informs us that in a recent number of the Zeitschrift appears an account of an extraordinary Vocal Phenomenon. The new musical wonder is a Boy, who has the power of emitting three vocal sounds at a time, and can therefore execute pieces in three parts. The fact is attested by two names of considerable weight, Kalliwoda and Mayer, from whom letters are published describing the exhibition, and warranting the genuineness of the prodigy. His voice, we are told, extends over two full octaves, from a flat below the line to a flat above, in the key of G; the lower notes being generally weak, those in the middle stronger, but of harsh quality, while the upper notes are soft, and flowing as those of a flageolet. When singing more than one part the lad is unable to pronounce any words, and can only sing songs of the utmost simplicity as regards the harmony.

NAVIGATORS ISLANDERS.

MR. HEATH has read to the British Association, a paper "On the Physical Character, Languages, and Manners of the People of the Navigators Islands." The islanders were described as a fine race of people, the average size rather above that of Europeans—the colour brunette, the face oval, the hair black and rather crisp, and the eyes a fine black. Their language is at present scarcely known to philologists. It is spoken by about 60,000, and is a dialect of the widespread Polynesian. One of its marked peculiarities is, its reciprocal conjugation of the verb. Mr. Heath had entered very fully into a comparison of the Samoan with the Malay, and of several of the Polynesian languages among themselves, and of some of the Papuan dialects, and had obtained extensive vocabularies. With regard to individual and family life, the child is named after the god whose name is last invoked prior to the moment of birth. The mothers slightly press the forehead so as to give it a conical form: they rear their children tenderly. Circumcision is practised. They believed in a future state, but had rather loose and inconsistent notions as to what sort of state it is; some, they said, became gods, some were eaten by the gods, and the chiefs became living pillars in a large temple. The tradition with them is, that they came from the eastward, and their elysium is Pulo-tu. Since Pulo is the name for island, this also indicates their origin. They are an intelligent people, and manifestly capable of improvement. The people of Tanna and the neighbouring island are in stature about five feet six, or five feet eight, the legs rather short and ill-formed: they are neither so well-formed nor wellfeatured as the Samoans and other Polynesians. The complexion is the colour of dirty or worn copper coin, and they make their skin still darker by a deep purple dye; they also daub their faces with red, black, and other pigments. There is a mixture of the Papuans and Polynesians, for the people of Erranan and Immer have dialects very similar to the Samoan, and there are intermarriages between the tribes, so that the Polynesians are now nearly as dark-coloured as the Papuan. Various dialects were found, not only in the group, but even on one and

the same island. The language spoken at Port Resolution is in some respects peculiar; it has a conjugation of the verb by prefixes, and not only a dual but a triple personal pronoun. The people of Tanna sometimes bury their dead in shallow graves, sometimes tie a stone to them and sink them in the sea. At Anatom, the widow is tied, alive, to the dead body of her husband, and sunk together with it in the sea.

The reading of these papers was succeeded by a great number of inquiries being made of Mr. Heath, on various points in the habits, languague, &c. of the people with whom he had mixed. As specimens of the spoken languages of the people of the Navigators Islands, he read over the Lord's Prayer in the two languages they employ, the plebeian and the aristocratic. Prof. Owen stated that there was every encouragement for this committee to prosecute its labours. Many copious volumes had been written without eliciting so much information as had been gained in this instance by the queries issued by the Committee.-Athenæum, No. 838.

NEW QUAdruped.

AUDUBON, the celebrated naturalist, in a letter dated from the Rocky Mountains, details his discovery of a Quadruped, somewhat resembling, in shape, a kangaroo, but varying in many particulars. It sits on its hind legs the same way, but not shaped in the abdominal regions the same; its front legs or arms are short, but armed with sharp claws, and they bound or jump with their hind legs. They have a tail something like that of a sheep, about 10 inches long, and round the middle of the body they have a ring of flesh about 12 inches wide and 8 inches thick in the middle or centre, which produces a great quantity of oil. On their heads they have two horns, very similar to the horns of the deer, but not more than 18 inches long; the head is shaped also very much like that of the deer, and has the same kind of teeth; but what is more remarkable than all the rest, their coat is of a most beautiful fur, of a dark brown colour. The proportions of the one we killed were very great; it weighed, to the best of our calculations, upwards of 600 lbs., and it measured from the top of the head to the end of the tail, 9 feet 4 inches, which appears to be their full-grown size: the Indians said, that in these woodlands these animals were in great abundance. They called it, in their tongue, the ke-ko-ka-ki, or jumper; they feed on grass, herbs, and foliage. Upon observing us take off the skin, the Indians expressed a desire to have some of the flesh, which we gave them. We cooked some of the same, and found it delicious; it was very white and tender, tasted very similar to veal; but the ring on the body was nearly all oil, and the whole upper part will produce a great quantity.

THE SIX-BANDED ARMADILLO.

DR. ALLMAN has read to the British Association, a paper "On certain Peculiarities in the Arteries of the Six-banded Armadillo." The structural novelties in this communication consist in a remarkable arrangement of vessels analogous to what has been already