72 J. DUESBERG. 



following. After the publication of Benda's somewhat compli- 

 cated method, it was a common opinion that what that method 

 brings into evidence is only a distorted appearance of the cellular 

 structures. Thus, however, were disregarded a number of ob- 

 servations, some of which belong to the earliest period of cyto- 

 logical investigation : I shall limit myself to mention von Brunn's 

 observations on the formation of the spiral filament in the 

 spermatozoon of the mouse, von la Valette St. George's work with 

 dahlia-violet applied in vivo, Michaelis's discovery of the peculiar 

 properties of the janus-green. 1 Quite lately the chondriosomes 

 have been extensively studied in the living cell, especially in tissue 

 cultures: prominent investigators in this field are W. H. and 

 M. R. Lewis. These recent observations have confirmed what 

 the old ones already taught that chondriosomes are not arte- 

 facts and that they appear in the fixed and stained preparations 

 very much the same as they are in the living cell. 



Another important result of the recent studies on chondrio- 

 somes is a simplification in our conception of the morphology of 

 the protoplasm. When Benda first described his "mitochondria" 

 (at that time, he was convinced that the granular form was the 

 rule), he thought he had discovered a new cellular organule. 

 The question soon arose: what is the relationship between these 

 organules and other constituents of the cell, such as Flemming's 

 fila, Maggi's plastidules, Altmann's bioblasts, Boveri's archo- 

 plasmic granules, etc.? Is there any relation between these . 

 bodies or are they entirely different? In the last supposition, 

 the structure of the cytoplasm appeared as something so com- 

 plicated that many, especially under the influence of Fischer's 

 experiments, cleared the field by designating as an artefact any 

 structure which appeared after fixation. We know now, prin- 

 cipally as the result of Meves's exertions, that all these elements 

 are one and the same thing. Flemming's filaments (at least 

 those which he described in the resting cell, in contradistinction 

 to the mitome of the dividing cell), Maggi's plastidules found by 

 that author and by the brothers Zoja, his pupils, in practically 



1 Probably the reason why janus-green has until lately been so little in favor 

 among cytologists is that a number of dyes delivered under that name are either 

 some other product, or a substance mixed with impurities, which may be toxic. 



