2. (Anat.) A protoplasmic animal cell; esp., such as float
free, like blood, lymph, and pus corpuscles; or such as
are imbedded in an intercellular matrix, like connective
tissue and cartilage corpuscles. See {Blood}.
Virchow showed that the corpuscles of bone are
homologous with those of connective tissue.
--Quain's
Anat.
{Red blood corpuscles} (Physiol.), in man, yellowish,
biconcave, circular discs varying from 1/3500 to 1/3200 of
an inch in diameter and about 1/12400 of an inch thick.
They are composed of a colorless stroma filled in with
semifluid h[ae]moglobin and other matters. In most mammals
the red corpuscles are circular, but in the camels, birds,
reptiles, and the lower vertebrates generally, they are
oval, and sometimes more or less spherical in form. In
Amphioxus, and most invertebrates, the blood corpuscles
are all white or colorless.
{White blood corpuscles} (Physiol.), rounded, slightly
flattened, nucleated cells, mainly protoplasmic in
composition, and possessed of contractile power. In man,
the average size is about 1/2500 of an inch, and they are
present in blood in much smaller numbers than the red
corpuscles.