ON THE IDENTITY 
OF 
THE WHITE CORPUSCLES OF THE BLOOD WITH 
THE SALIVARY, PUS, AND MUCOUS 
CORPUSCLES./ 
By JOSEPH G. RICH ARDS OH, M.D., 
FORMERLY RESIDENT PHYSICIAN AT THE PENNSYLVANIA HOSPITAL. 
The nature of the nucleated corpuscles so abundant in the 
saliva has long been a subject of some uncertainty, and al- 
though they have probably, as favorite test objects for the 
higher powers, been more frequently examined by micro- 
scopists than almost any other constituent of the glandular 
secretions, observers seem to have been generally contented 
to accept them simpl}7 as useful measures for the capacity of 
the higher objectives, and passed on without any attempts to 
solve the mystery of their origin; Kolliker indeed advanced 
the theory that they were essentially a form of exudation 
corpuscles, but hitherto his hypothesis does not appear to 
have been generally accepted by microscopists as a fixed 
fact. 
The following experiments, undertaken to elucidate their 
constitution, were performed with the large Powell & Lea- 
land’s instrument, so long a denizen of the “Microscope 
Loom ” in the Pennsylvania Hospital, and no doubt endeared 
by constant association to many generations of “Residents,” 
as well as to myself. When it was discarded by the Institu- 
tion I became the purchaser, and after undergoing some re- 2 
DR. JOSEPH G. RICHARDSON ON 
pairs, and having adapted to it a inch objective (made 
by Mr. William Wales, of Fort Lee, N. J.), it has accom- 
plished the work below described. 
The salivary corpuscles examined under a power of eleven 
hundred diameters present the appearance of perfect spheres, 
varying from the to the of an inch in diameter, 
each having a very transparent but beautifully defined cell- 
wall of exceeding tenuity, which incloses from one to four 
almost equally transparent nuclei of a circular or oval form, 
whose diameters range from to of an inch. 
These nuclei are situated sometimes centrally but more 
commonly near one side of the corpuscle, and the cavity be- 
tween the margin and the cell-wall is generally filled with 
from 25 to 50 molecules, not more than of an inch 
in diameter, whose characteristic is that of constant and 
rapid motion. Some of these molecules seem to be elongated 
into an oval or hour-glass form, but the activity of their 
movements renders it difficult to ascertain this with pre- 
cision. In my observations these corpuscles have appeared 
to enlarge and become flattened, from the pressure of the 
glass cover, as the stratum of liquid beneath became thinner 
from marginal desiccation, so that usually in the course of an 
hour or so they burst, and discharge about one-fourth of 
their contents, when two, three, or more of the molecules 
swim away, continuing their revolving movements until they 
pass out of view; the other granules outside and those re- 
maining within the cell become in a very few seconds entirely 
stationary. If a solution of aniline red, of the strength of 
one grain to the ounce of distilled water, be allowed to pene- 
trate at the margin of the cover, the nuclei of the salivary 
corpuscle are readily stained of a bright crimson, and are 
thus exhibited with beautiful distinctness; the dye appears, 
however, to exert an immediate influence upon the move- 
ment of the molecules, as I have rarely been able to find cells 
in which they continued to move after the nuclei became at 
all colored. 
In examining some urine, obtained on the 8th of August, 
1868, near my late residence, in Western New York, from WHITE CORPUSCLES OP THE BLOOD. 
3 
a patient who complained of severe pain in the kidneys and 
bladder, I was surprised to find that a deposit, which ap- 
peared to the naked eye purulent, was chiefly composed of 
cells, exactly resembling in form, size, definite cell-wall, con- 
tained nuclei, and actively revolving molecules, the salivary 
corpuscles with which I had become so familiar; and should 
have imagined that these proceeded from an accidental 
adulteration with sputum, had I not been fortunate enough 
to have ocular demonstration to the contrary when procuring 
the specimen. I examined these corpuscles repeatedly in 
the course of the two following days, during which the 
movements of the molecules continued, but could make 
nothing else of them except drawings, which I carefully 
preserved. 
On consulting the text-hooks to which I had access, I found 
that neither Beale, Roberts, Bird, nor Uaubauer and Yogel, 
in their works on the Urine, mentioned cells such as those 
above described, although the editors of the Micrographic 
Dictionary, in their description of the salivary corpuscles, 
state that they have seen them by myriads in the renal 
secretion; nevertheless, numerous specimens examined 
during the following few months, seldom without special 
scrutiny for similar bodies, afforded none, until in a deposit 
occurring from urine brought me by a medical friend about 
December 1st, the corpuscles I had so long been in search of 
were at last recognized, and on this occasion I was able to 
exhibit them to several microscopists, among others to my 
friend, Dr. H. C. Wood, Jr., Prof, of Botany, in the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania. 
On the 5th of December I procured a sample of urine 
from a case of cystitis, which had only been passed a few 
hours, and on placing it under the field of the I found 
many of the pus-globules exhibiting the amoebaform move- 
ments described by Dr. Beale in his late elaborate work on 
the “ Microscope in Practical Medicine;” no corpuscles con- 
taining moving molecules were visible, but observing that 
some of the pus-cells having a spherical outline were almost 
opaque and only about °f an inch i*1 diameter, it 4 
DR. JOSEPH G. RICHARDSON ON 
occurred to me that they were perhaps only contracted by 
the exosmose of their fluid contents into the surrounding- 
denser medium, and the idea suggested itself to try the 
effect of diminishing the specific gravity of the urine by the 
addition of water. Under this treatment I found that the 
cells which had been exhibiting amcebaform movements, 
soon assumed a spherical shape, rapidly enlarged until they 
reached the diameter of about of an inch, when the 
contained molecules began to revolve, and ere long took 
upon themselves the extremely rapid and confused move- 
ments which I had twice before seen in cells occurring in 
urine, and hundreds of times in the salivary corpuscles; the 
action of aniline solution rendered beautifully distinct, defi- 
nite nuclei similar to those found in the salivary bodies. 
The opportunity of corroborating the interesting and re- 
markable researches of Dr. Cohnheim, of Berlin, on the 
identity of the pus and white blood corpuscles thus obviously 
presenting itself, I proceeded with the following experiments. 
Drawing a drop of blood from the tip of my finger upon a 
“ growing slide,” 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, I raised the 
objective, and arranged a fine filament of thread from the 
reservoir filled with fresh water to the upper edge of the 
cover, and a fragment of wet paper to the lower, according 
to the usual method for securing a constant current beneath 
the thin glass. On depressing the body of the instrument 
and bringing the corpuscle again into view, I found it still 
adhering to the surface of the cover, notwithstanding the 
torrent of red globules hurrying over the field, and as these 
became paler and less distinct by reason of the diminished 
density of the serum, the white cell first gradually expanded 
and displayed its delicate wall with two rounded nuclei, then, 
after acquiring the magnitude of about of an inch, it 
exhibited the rapid and incessant movement of its contained 
molecules, and finally, when its diameter reached about 
»0ljtli of an inch, it burst suddenly, discharging a portion 
of its contents, whose outbreak resembled that of a swarm of WHITE CORPUSCLES OF THE BLOOD. 
5 
bees from a hive, and some particles of which, actively revolv- 
ing as they went, swam off* to the confines of the field. On 
repeating the observation and allowing some of the 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 respect as in all the others, showing a precise 
identity with the reactions afforded by the pus and the sali- 
vary corpuscles, as above described. It should he noted that 
a certain variable proportion of the white cells of the blood 
thus treated exhibited no moving molecules, and apparently 
consisted solely of nucleus and cell-wall. 
It is worthy of remark that this experiment amply demon- 
strates the inestimable advantages of high objectives (which 
some even yet pretend to doubt), for the remarkable move- 
ment of the contained molecules seems to have escaped the 
attention of Prof. Virchow, the great author of “ The Cel- 
lular Pathology,” himself (vide p. 181, Chance’s translation, 
1863). Although the observation was first made with the 
aid of a yet afterwards, knowing exactly what to look 
for, I had little difficulty in demonstrating to various gen- 
tlemen the revolving molecules thus brought into view with 
powers as low as the £th inch. 
A portion of fetid pus from an abscess, and a specimen of 
mucus from the nasal fossa, under a like treatment, gave 
similar results, which did not materially vary in numerous 
trials. 
Tracing now the white blood corpuscle from its condition 
of irregular outline and amoebaform movement, as observed 
in serum and in heavy urine, when the circumambient fluid 
aproaches the density of 1028, through its rounded form 
with slightly more distinct nuclei, in the liquor puris, and in 
urine of lower specific gravity, we find that immersed in a 
rarer liquid, approximating to the mean density of the saliva 
(1005), it has an accurately spherical outline, is more than 
twice the magnitude, and contains a number of minute ac- 
tively moving molecules, thus exactly resembling in all sen- 
sible characters the true salivary corpuscle; and it therefore 6 
DR. JOSEPH G. RICHARDSON ON WHITE CORPUSCLES, ETC. 
seems reasonably certain that the blood, under the appointed 
nervous influence, congesting the buccal mucous membrane 
and associated glands, moves slowly enough through their 
capillaries to allow some of its white globules to penetrate 
the walls of the vessels, as they are said to do those of the 
frog’s mesentery in Cohnheim’s experiment (Virchow, Ar- 
chiv, Band 40, S. 38, u. s. w.), which, under the influence of 
the rarer saliva, expanding them and setting free to move 
their contained molecules, constitute the bodies so long 
known to histologists as the corpuscles of the salivary fluid. 
Dr. Lionel Beale in his work on the “ Microscope in Prac- 
tical Medicine,’’ remarks in reference to the examination of 
the saliva: “ In the somewhat viscid matter of which the 
salivary corpuscle is composed, are multitudes of highly 
refracting particles in incessant motion. The nature of these 
particles is extremely doubtful. They look very like the 
germs of bacteria, and it is possible they may be of this na- 
ture.” If the hypothesis thus guardedly indorsed by the 
celebrated English microscopist be correct, it seems not im- 
probable that the white corpuscles, either in the capillaries 
or lymphatic glands, collect during their amcebaform move- 
ments, those germs of bacteria, which my own experiments 
(American Journal of the Medical Sciences, July, 1868) in- 
dicate always exist in the blood to a greater or less amount. 
And further, it appears not impossible, that when thus 
loaded, their elimination through the saliva, under the mer- 
curial influence, and their evacuation by a discharge of pus 
from a seton or a tartar emetic ulcer, really constitute that 
therapeutic value of these remedial measures in certain cases 
which has so long rested unexplained.