302 STUDIES ON PATHOLOGIC OVA. 



and identified them with certain other cells (physaliphores) previously described 

 by him. He found these bubble-like cells, as he called them, also in the thymus 

 of the new-born, in cancer, etc., and, according to Virchow, they were not merely 

 vacuolated cells. He seems to have regarded them as identical also with the vacuo- 

 lated syncytial masses, for he stated that Mliller described them as occurring in 

 the chorionic epithelium. Since syncytial elements are not uncommon in the 

 stroma, instances of confusion of these two cell types can be found in contemporary 

 literature also. 



Langhans (1877), in describing the stroma of the villi, said that it contained 

 "sharply delimited large cells with many granules in the protoplasm. Their form 

 is variable circular, spindle, and star-shaped." These cells were said to lie mainly 

 near the periphery. However, Langhans, who was interested mainly in other 

 problems, did not represent them nor discuss their probable significance. But 

 Kastschenko (1885) represented them and described them as being about 9 /* 

 large, and as corresponding exactty in form and size to the white blood-cells of the 

 same embryo. According to Kastschenko, the cytoplasm is reduced in quantity 

 after the first month, so that the nucleus no longer is surrounded by it. The nuclei 

 also are said to undergo a change and to appear later as solid structures. The 

 latter observation can not fail to remind one of pycnosis and of one of its well- 

 known significances. Kastschenko found these cells mainly near the epithelium 

 of the villi and stated that they vary greatly in size, number, and occurrence in the 

 same placenta. The fact that Kastschenko identified the cells found in the mesen- 

 chyme of the embryonic villi as leucocytes might seem to indicate that what he 

 saw and described were other than Hofbauer cells. However, his illustrations, 

 especially when considered in connection with those of earlier investigators and 

 those of Minot, leave little doubt that all these investigators saw the same type 

 of cell. Moreover, it is not improbable that Kastschenko was influenced in his 

 interpretation of these cells by the origin and current use of the term "Wander- 

 zelle." It will be recalled that von Recklinghausen (1863) showed that the leu- 

 cocyte preeminently belonged in this class of cells, but even at the time that 

 Kastschenko was writing, and far later, all cells which were regarded as foreign 

 to the tissue in which they lay were still included in the designation "Wander- 

 zelle." Reference to the literature of that period will make this fully evident. 



The presence of these cells in conceptuses classed as pathologic was noticed 

 repeatedly by Mall (1908), who also designated them as wandering or migrating 

 cells in his earlier protocols. Chaletzky (1891) also saw and described these cells, 

 but perhaps the best description from an earlier date is that given by Kossman 

 (1892), who also referred to the Hofbauer cells as " Wanderzellen," and gave excellent 

 representations of them. Indeed, from an inspection of the latter alone there can 

 be no question as to the identity of these "Wanderzellen" and the Hofbauer cell. 

 In speaking of them, Kossman said: 



.... Auffallend sind zahlreiche grosse Zellen, die eine sehr wechselnde, oft 

 amoboide, niemals sternformige Gestalt haben. Die Filarmasse ihres Protoplasma's ist 

 durchaus fein, netzartig angeordnet und farbt sich stark in Hamatoxylin. Die Zellen 



