112 VERA DANCHAKOFF AND S. M. SEIDLIN. 



a result of the simultaneous association of these conditions, i or 2 

 days after injection almost all of the cells in the area of injection 

 are represented by lymphoid phagocytes. 



There is no doubt that while the process of ingesting the edestin 

 takes place, actual digestion begins at about the same time. The 

 digestion in this case is intracellular and similar to that observed 

 in the protozoa. The edestin particles, found in rather large 

 vacuoles, are gradually disappearing, and, on the basis of this 

 observation, the conclusion must be reached, that enzymes are 

 liberated by these cells into vacuoles in conditions permitting 

 of digestion of the protein particles and not affecting the cyto- 

 plasm surrounding the vacuole. A rather interesting detail is 

 observed in the digestive activity of the phagocyte. The edestin 

 granules are frequently seen to be surrounded individually by 

 thin strands of cytoplasm. Early after injection, the phagocytes 

 are invariably seen to contain large groups of edestin granules in 

 single vacuoles, but in later stages these groups are seen to be 

 gradually separated by cytoplasmic strands (Fig. 4, four days) 

 until every granule is surrounded separately. Whether, however, 

 this step is necessary is difficult to tell. 



While ingestion of edestin by the phagocytes has resulted in 

 the formation of vast indivisible plasmodia (Fig. 2), the digestion 

 and resorption of the edestin leads again to a definition of sepa- 

 rate cell units. Two days after injection the region appears very 

 similar to the condition found in the periphery of the injected 

 mass at an early stage (Fig. 3). The phagocytes appear again 

 individually separated and in denser regions only a few plasmodia 

 are observed. This separation is completed 3 or 4 days after 

 injection, as Fig. 4 shows. At this time (4 days after injection) 

 the digestion in most of the cells has been completed. Some of 

 them still show a large vacuole containing a number of edestin 

 granules, but such cells have become scarcer. Other phagocytes 

 contain two or three small vacuoles with a limited number or even 

 with single granules. Cells are observed, also, which do not con- 

 tain more than 2 or 3 small granules and finally a number of 

 cells are found without any. Digestion in these cells has been 

 apparently completed. 



