Cited by G.L. Gulland, 'On the Granular Leucocytes', Journal of Physiology 19 (5-6) (1896), pp. 385-417.
Description:

Explanation of Plate V (figs. 1-16):

'The objective used in all cases except Fig. 41 was Zeiss's apochromatic homogeneous immersion 2.0 mm. equivalent focus and 1.40 mm. aperture, and the eyepiece was 18 compensating, in all cases but Figs. 3, 6 and 41. Figs. 3 and 6 were drawn with eyepiece 8 compensating. Fig. 41 with eyepiece 2 compensating and Zeiss objective DD.

The magnification for the majority of the figures is x 2250; for Figs. 3 and 6 x 1,000, for Fig. 41, about x 200.

Fig. 1. Hyaline leucocyte from blood of newt, moving slightly, astrosphere very evident. Iron-haematoxylin.

Fig. 2. Small oxyphile leucocyte from newt's blood, mitoma very evident, nucleus rather over-stained. Iron-haematoxylin.

Fig. 3. Eosinophile cell from newt's blood with spherical pseudopod. n = nucleus, which was over-stained. Iron-haematoxylin, x 1,000.

Fig. 4. Basophile cell, very small, from rabbit's mesentery. n = nucleus, c = centrosomes nearly equal in size, the centrodesmosis took up the stain only very faintly. Methylene-blue.

Fig. 5. Detached pseudopod from eosinophile cell of newt's blood; the optical section of the middle is drawn; the points unattached represent the places where the mitoma passed out of view, either upwards or downwards. Methylene-blue, Bordeaux.

Fig. 6. Eosinophile cell of newt's blood with spherical pseudopod attached by thin thread. n = nucleus over-stained. Bordeaux, iron-haematoxylin.

Fig. 7. Hyaline leucocyte of frog's blood. as = astrosphere with two centrosomes very unequal in size; some of the microsomes in the ring bounding the astrosphere have retained the stain; n = nucleus over-stained. The cytomitoma though visible was not evident enough to be drawn in detail. Bordeaux, iron-hoematoxylin.

Fig. 8. Oxyphile leucocyte (amphophile) from bone-marrow of rabbit; mitoma very evident, microsomes small. Iron-haematoxylin.

Fig. 9. Hyaline leucocyte from bone-marrow of rabbit; microcentre with four centrosomes, mitoma fairly evident. Iron-haematoxylin.

Fig. 10. Eosinophile cell from bone-marrow of rabbit; astrosphere well seen, two small centrosomes. Iron-haematoxylin.

Fig. 11. Transition form between oxyphile and eosinophile cells from bone-marrow of rabbit, evidently very small part of the cell. Iron-haematoxylin.

Fig. 12. Eosinophile cell from bone-marrow of rabbit; astrosphere well seen. The section has evidently passed right through the middle of the cell, and through the middle of a spectacle-shaped nucleus. Iron-haematoxylin.

Fig. 13. Part of an eosinophile cell from bone-marrow of rabbit; the fainter microsomes were those slightly out of focus, above or below, when drawing the nucleus. Iron-hsematoxylin.

Fig. 14. Eosinophile cell from tongue of frog; fainter microsomes slightly out of focus. Iron-haematoxylin.

Fig. 15. Part of an eosinophile cell from tongue of a frog; no nucleus in the section, mitoma specially well seen. Iron-heematoxylin.

Fig. 16. Eosinophile cell from hen's ovary; astrosphere well seen; radial (?) arrangement of microsomes. Section probably cut as in Fig. 12. Iron-heematoxylin.' (415-416)

 

Figs. 1, 7 and 9 in text:

'It must not... be thought that the hyaline cell-body is structureless. The constant presence of the microcentre alone would prove the contrary, and though no hint of structure can be seen in the lymphocytes, or even in the smaller hyaline cells, yet as they become larger, one can see the ordinary network of protoplasm (see Figs. 7 and 9). In the hyaline cells the nucleus may remain round or may alter its shape according to Heidenhain's law, that is, according to the relation of its diameter to the diameter -of the whole cell (Figs. 1, 7, 9). The process of change from the small hyaline cell to the finely granular oxyphile cell is associated with an increase in the visibility of the mitoma. It is this, in the early stages, rather than the actual appearance of granules that gives the finely granular appearance to the cell-body. Along with this goes the deformation of the nucleus by amoeboid movements, and the ordinary polymorphous form is soon reached. When these forms are seen in the blood the cells are generally approximately spherical, and the microcentre is situated in the middle of the cell (Figs. 18 and 19). The centrosomes are small, too small for one to be sure of their number as a rule, and I have found them stain better with the unmodified Ehrlich-Biondi stain than with iron-haematoxylin. The limits of the astrosphere are not usually well-marked, except sometimes in the larger cells (Fig. 19).' (399)

 

Figs. 2 and 8 in text:

'Minute as these microsomes are it can already be made out that they vary in size to a certain extent; on the whole, the largest microsomes are towards the periphery of the cell. In the larger cells of this stage the interstitial substance between the threads of the mitoma becomes increased in amount and the strands are consequently placed further apart. The difference is seen in the contrast between Figs. 18 and 19 and in Figs. 2 and 8.' (399)

 

Figs. 2, 8 and 11 in text:

'The transition-forms between the finely granular and the coarsely granular acidophile cells are seen much more frequently in the bone-marrow than in the blood, and it seems certain that both from this source and from mitotic division the main source of the eosinophile cells is in the bone-marrow. They must arise elsewhere however in abundance, for both Schaffer [ref: '(7)' ['Schaffer, J. Centrlbl. f. d. med. Wiss. 1891.']] and I [note: '(20) ['Gulland, G. L. Journ. of Path. and Bacter. 1894. ']] have shown that they are present in the thymus and in lymphatic glands before either bone or bone-marrow is properly formed at all, and Engel [note: '(19)' ['Engel, C. S. Arch. f. mikr. Anat. LXIV. 1894.']] has seen them in the chick's blood on the 5th day of incubation. In the transition-forms (see Figs. 2, 8, 11) there is little in the general shape of the cell and nucleus to distinguish them from- the preceding stage. The real difference is the fact that the mitoma has become much more visible and still more widely spaced, and th-at some of the microsomes are much larger than others. These larger microsomes take up eosin and iron-haematoxylin much more deeply than the smaller granules, and it is at this stage too that the threads of the mitoma can first be said to stain satisfactorily with iron-hoematoxylin (see Fig. 11).' (399-400)

 

Figs. 3, 5-6 in text:

'The mitoma in the eosinophile cell is especially well seen in those of the newt's blood. These cells are markedly amceboid and have the habit of throwing out circular pseudopodia which are often counected to the main part of the cell only by a very delicate thread. Two such cells are shown in Figs. 3 and 6, and it is evident that the threads are often broken through and the spherical portion of the cell-body set free, as the blood contains a large number of them. The mitoma in these is often very clear, as may be seen from Fig. 5 and from Fig. 17, where one of these bodies has been ingested by a "hyaline" leucocyte.' (401)

 

Fig. 4 in text:

'I shall best be able to describe the changes through which they pass by tracing the cells from the original lymphocyte or hyaline transitionform, from which they are derived. The first change consists not so much in an enlargement of the microsomes as in the superior visibility of the mitoma. As in the eosinophile cells the cell-body becomes larger, and as there the mitoma takes up acid stains, so here it takes up basic stains (Fig. 4). As the cell increases in size, the mitoma retains its visibility and the microsomes become larger and assume the ordinary appearance of granules. These are at first few and scattered irregularly through the cell: some microsomes have increased in size, others have not; the mitoma is always most visible near the microsomes which have taken up the stain. At this stage, illustrated by Figs. 21-23, from the blood, and Figs. 24-27, from the mesentery, the granules always differ markedly in size, much more so than at later stages. They are always uniform in staining, and curiously enough, the very small ones do not often show the metachromatic reaction with methylene-blue. The cells in the blood are generally spherical, but those in connective tissue soon show an irregularity in shape suggestive of amoeboid movements; they put forth those long flat processes which are so characteristic of the larger cells. In Figs. 26 and 27, for instance, all the granules to be seen in the cell are shown, and they were all lying almost in one plane, so that hardly any focussing was required to see them. They must therefore have been lying in a very thin layer of protoplasm, and from the constancy of this appearance we may infer that the spaces through which these leucocytes have to pass between the planes of connective tissue in the mesentery must be very shallow. The rounder cells are generally found in places where, as near the larger blood vessels, the mesentery becomes thicker and allows more space; the elongated cells are generally in the thin parts of the structure.' (406)

'Westphal [ref: '(4)' ['Ehrlich, P. Farbenanalytische Untersuchungen &c. Gesammelte Mittheilungen. Pt. I. 1891.']] distinguished three main forms of the large basophile cells, flat, spherical, and spindle-shaped, with two or more processes; he remarks however that this is purely a classification for convenience, as transition-forms of every kind are to be seen also. This I can fully confirm, as I can also his dicta that "in individuals of the same species and same age the distribution, number and size of the cells are similar in similar organs," and that in individuals of different species there are great differences in the number &c., of the cells in the same organs. I may add that certain species show a tendency to have cells of one or other shape or size. The mesentery of the rabbit, for instance, contains, speaking generally, small cells, mostly spherical (Figs. 4, 24, 25); of the guinea-pig, larger spindle-shaped cells (Figs. 29 and 30); of the rat, enormous round and flat cells (Figs. 31, 32); while that of the newt has huge spindle cells which send off often several secondary branches from the primary ones (Fig. 41).' (403-404)

 

Fig. 5 in text:

'As there is neither nucleus nor centrosome in these portions they soon degenerate, but like eosinophile cells elsewhere they retain their integrity to the last. Fig. 5 shows one of them apparently soon after its detachment from the leucocyte, while the mitoma is still very evident. Indeed, it has seemed to me as although in the earlier stages of degeneration the mitoma were even more evident than in the healthy cell.' (402)

 

Figs. 10 and 12-16 in text:

'the threads of the cell network do not stain very deeply with the acid dye, and the bright refraction of the granules blinds the eye to the presence of the threads. It is for this reason that Heidenhain's iron-haematoxylin used with thin sections is so valuable a process. The granules are stained opaquely in shades of black and grey so that their refraction is to a great extent destroyed, and the mitoma itself takes up the iron. This it does to an extent varying not only in different cells, but in different parts of the same cell. With this method one finds then that the eosinophile granules are not isolated bodies lying in a structureless matrix, but that they are greatly enlarged microsomes of an orderly mitoma. I have found this to hold good of all the eosinophile cells which I have seen, both in the blood and elsewhere, and in all the animals I have examined (Figs. 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16). The size of the granules is very far from being the same even within the limits of the same cell, although some authors have maintained that in each cell the granules are of the same size. The mistake has arisen from looking only at the entire cells, and the peripheral granules are often very nearly the same in size. A glance however at my Figs. 10, 12, 16, will show how great the range of difference is. Heidenhain believes that the granules are arranged radially to the astrosphere, with the smallest granules next the sphere, the largest at the periphery; and he has pointed out, which I can fully confirm, that there are never any granules within the astrosphere itself The microcentre does not differ from that of other leucocytes, but the limits of the astrosphere are always very evident because of the granules which surround it (Figs. 10, 12,16). The radii within the sphere are usually pretty well stained by the iron-haematoxylin. I have tried to make out Heidenhain's radial arrangement of the granules but have not satisfied myself that it really exists. Appearances are often seen (as in Fig. 16) which suggest it, but I believe that here as in the other leucocytes of which I have spoken the mitoma forms a true network or sponge. There certainly are constantly connecting threads running between the microsomes; I have taken the greatest pains in the drawings only to insert those threads of which I could be certain.' (400-401)