Chapter 1 : Paul Ehrlich and the Early History of Granulocytes

Paul Ehrlich in 1878 (from Hirsch and Hirsch [ 23 ]). The first description of the eosinophil appeared in the Archive für Anatomie und Physiologie in 1879. Reprinted from ( 26 ), with permission.

(Left) William Hewson, the Father of Hematology. (Right) Alfred Donné, who introduced the microscope into clinical diagnosis and recorded one of the first descriptions of white cells in leukemia. Reprinted from ( 26 ), with permission.

Alfred Donné’s microscopic images of blood from a patient with leukemia. (Top right) Red and white blood cells from a leukemic patient. (Lower right) “Mucous globules,” or white blood cells, from the same patient. The images were published in the supplement to Cours de Microscopie in 1845 (left). Reprinted from ( 26 ), with permission.

John Bennett published the first detailed description of leukemia. His illustrations show “colourless corpuscles” in the circulation. Reprinted from ( 26 ), with permission.

Rudolf Virchow and an illustration taken from his volume Cellular Pathology as Based upon Physiological and Pathological Histology (7th American edition, Robert M. de Witt, New York, NY, 1856): Fig. 63. A. Pus-corpuscles, a fresh, b after the addition of a little water, c–e after treatment with acetic acid, the contents cleared up, the nuclei which were in process of division, or already divided, visible, at e with a slight depression on their surface. B. Nuclei of pus corpuscles in gonorrhoea; a simple nucleus with nucleoli, b incipient division, with depressions (by many held to be nuclei) on the surface of the nuclei, c progressive bi-partition, d tri-partition. C. Pus-corpuscles in their natural position with regard to one another. 500 diameters. Reprinted from ( 26 ), with permission.

(Left) Julius Cohnheim demonstrated that leukocytes passed through the apparently intact walls of the capillaries by amoeboid movement. (Right) Friedrich von Recklinghausen showed that the amoeboid properties of white cells were the result of both locomotion and contractility. Reprinted from ( 26 ), with permission.

Gottlieb Gluge was possibly the first to describe granular cells, which he referred to as “inflammatory globules.” He proposed that blood corpuscles “metamorphosed” into inflammation globules. The cells shown in the top right panel were believed to represent stages in this process. However, they have the appearance of intact or degranulated eosinophils. Further examples of Gluge’s “inflammation corpuscles” are shown in the middle right and bottom panels. Reprinted from ( 26 ), with permission.

Julius Vogel made extensive drawings of granular cells in inflammatory exudates. The right panels are examples of Vogel’s “pus corpuscles,” which he also refers to as “granular cells” or “Gluge’s compound inflammatory globules.” They bear a striking resemblance to eosinophils. Reprinted from ( 13 ).

Thomas Wharton Jones made an extensive study of granular cells in a wide variety of species. His drawings show coarsely granular cells in the blood of human, horse, and elephant. Reprinted from ( 26 ), with permission.

Max Schultze performed functional studies on finely (A) and coarsely (B) granular cells. The cells were observed on a warm stage at 38°C. Reprinted from ( 16 ), with permission.

Paul Ehrlich in 1908. Color plate from Histology of the Blood, Normal and Pathological ( 22 ). Triacid (orange G, acid fuchsin, and methyl green) was used as a differential leukocyte stain. Reprinted from ( 26 ), with permission.