114 ROBERT H. BOWEN. 



cellular enzymes. When, therefore, \ve find an apparent homo- 

 logue of the Golgi apparatus in such extraordinary relations to 

 the contractile material of muscle fibers, the suggestion comes 

 to us at once that the functional significance of the Golgi appa- 

 ratus may here be of the same general character as in at least 

 some other kinds of cells. Thus we might look upon the Golgi 

 apparatus in muscle cells as the possible seat of oxidase formation. 

 Such possibilities are not, however, within the range of cyto- 

 logical examination at present, and some more tangible suggestion 

 will be essential if the matter is to be carried further. 



It happens that a very large mass of evidence has already 

 been accumulated, especially through the work of Holmgren 

 ('08, '10, '13, etc.), concerning the positional relationship of the 

 'Golgi apparatus' in muscle fibers to the so-called Q- and J- 

 granules (or sarcosomes), as well as the remarkable behavior of 

 these bodies during the cycle of muscle action. It has been 

 demonstrated, particularly by Holmgren ('10), that these granules 

 undergo most remarkable changes in staining capacity coincident 

 with the contraction and relaxation wave. These changes, 

 furthermore, are of such a character as to indicate that they are 

 probably related to a transfer of material between granules and 

 muscle columns, presumably necessary to muscular activity. In 

 addition, Holmgren ('10 and '13), Knoche ('09) and others, 

 following up the discoveries of earlier workers, have shown that 

 these granules present many remarkable similarities in staining 

 behavior to the so-called half-moon bodies long since described by 

 Heidenhain in the pelvic gland cells of salamanders. There 

 is here the distinct suggestion that the sarcosomes (i.e., the Q- 

 and J-granules) are actually a specialized type of secretory 

 granule, related primarily to the Golgi network of the muscle 

 fiber, and undergoing a well determined cycle of exhaustion and 

 replenishing synchronous with the contraction and rest of the 

 adjacent muscle columns. 



It is not my intention to enter here into a detailed development 

 of these speculations, for which Holmgren's papers suggest 

 many interesting possibilities. Such speculations are hardly 

 warranted as yet, especially because ol tin- conflicting data 

 concerning the distribution of the mitochondria in striated 



