Page:The third Huxley lecture.pdf/19

15 the whole web by the movements of the limb. Under these circumstances the highly interesting fact was disclosed that, while the web generally was affected through the nervous system with active congestion, that is to say, with arterial dilatation and consequent very free flow of blood, the characteristic stasis was limited to the area on which the irritant acted directly. In spite of the widening of the tubes of supply, the blood-corpuscles tended to lag more and more behind the liquor sanguinis, till at length complete stagnation occurred. The obstacle to the onward movement of the red discs seemed to be caused by adhesiveness on their part. On careful examination, individual discs were sometimes seen attached to the walls of the vessels. The white corpuscles also showed a tendency to adhere to each other and to the vascular parietes; and this was seen in all degrees, from the disposition to trail along the venous radicles, before referred to as occurring under slight irritation, to piling up of colourless granular masses of leucocytes large enough to block a venous radicle.

These appearances of the blood-corpuscles in the irritated area were such as were seen in blood examined outside the body between two plates of glass. I had observed similar granular masses of white corpuscles in blood from my own finger, as