Corpuscule

Although I may have learned this in my schooldays, it was a surprise to me when I recently read that the Mason-Dixon line defined the boundary between Maryland and Pennsylvania, settling a decades long dispute. In fact, the dispute was violent enough, at times, to be called “Cresap’s War”, named after a particularly nasty (and scrappy) Marylander.

The conflict was caused by an error in the land grant to William Penn in 1681, based on an inaccurate map, which essentially overlapped the 1632 Maryland grant pretty significantly. In fact, even Philadelphia fell within the disputed territory. It’s embarassing when your capital falls within the next state. Anyway, after on and off hostilities through the years, a final boundary took effect in 1750, and Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon surveyed the line in the 1760’s, earning themselves unexpected and lasting fame, and the 2019 equivalent of almost one million dollars.

The East-West line was along the latitude of the point 15 miles due south of the southernmost house in Philadelphia, which was on what is now called South Street. Where all the hippies meet. And a good place to eat. The line meets a North-South portion defining Maryland’s Eastern border with Delaware. At the corner is the Delaware border with Pennsylvania, which is an arc, rather than a straight line or natural border like a river. It is part of a twelve mile circle around New Castle, DE.

It wasn’t until the Missouri Compromise in 1820 that the Mason-Dixon line became associated with slavery and the legendary North-South border most people associate with the name. You can even buy Mason-Dixon souvenirs. Maybe even a souvenir from Cresap’s War, as well as the Civil War.

Speaking of bloodshed, there is something unusual about blood cells that you may not have ever thought about being unusual: they are not connected to anything. Unattached cells like blood and lymph cells are called corpuscules (or corpuscles). The word can also refer to any tiny particle, so it’s less special in that usage. In fact, the word literally means “little body”.

So, the next time you get a little splinter that causes some bleeding, you can say that a corpuscule caused you to lose corpuscules. Be sure to say it to someone who’s read this blog, though, or they’ll think you’ve lost more than a few corpuscules.