SKCRKTORY I'UKXOMKX A IN SII.K (iLAND. 42,} 



with Altmann's acid fuchsin, methyl green, and in the anterior 

 portion, is decidedly green. The intima takes a bright red 

 stain and appears to be a homogeneous, hyalin substance. 



The condition of the secretion product after fixation with 

 Champy, Benda, or Gatenby solutions is considerably different 

 and leads to doubt concerning the identity of the various 

 structures present in the lumen. With iron haematoxylin and 

 acid fuchsin, the core of secretion is stained black. In the 

 middle region, the secretion does not fill the lumen as is the 

 case after fixation with Regaud, but between the secretion and 

 the intima, now distinguished as a thin black membrane at the 

 cell border, there is present a compact mass of finely granular 

 substance that takes the acid stain. This substance, however, 

 is stained light green in material fixed by the Champy, and 

 stained by the Altmann method. Usually, the material appears 

 to be homogeneous, but after Benda, and sometimes after 

 Champy fixation, the substance is arranged in thread-like 

 strands that extend from the cell-wall toward the secretion. 

 That this band of substance is separate from the core of secretion 

 is quite evident, for the secretion may be found entirely removed 

 from the substance and be free in the lumen. The substance is 

 never free from the edge of the gland cell. It would seem that 

 either the amount of secretion present is determined by the 

 w r idth of this band which fills the remainder of the lumen or 

 that the size of the band of substance is dependent upon the 

 amount of secretion present, since after fixation, little or no 

 shrinkage apparently occurs and the core of silk is contained in 

 the center of the lumen closely surrounded by a band of this 

 substance. The former hypothesis seems more probable since 

 some regulatory mechanism for producing a thread of uniformly 

 decreasing dimensions must be present. 



Material fixed by the Champy, and stained with the Altmann 

 method affords evidence of the presence of two substances in 

 the thread. Secreted substance in the posterior portion of the 

 gland stains light pink on the periphery while the center is 

 either dark pink or green. This condition is not seen as sections 

 are selected in the more anterior part of the gland. After 

 fixation of the gland in Bouin, the silk thread exhibits two 



