George W. Bartelmez §,. 



sJ 



ovary of Cardium). The description of fig. i,, pi. 3, reads: "F.odem microscopio amplificala 

 et piincto veluti lucido centrali imiguila, rcpraesanlur." It seems to be indicated by E 

 Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire=>^ in a drawing of a hen's ovary as a clear spot at the center of the 

 cicatricula in two large oocytes. There is no reference to it in the legend or text. In 1822 

 Home.^'s describing drawings made by F. Bauer, referred to "an aperture in the inner mem- 

 brane" of the ovarian oocyte of the hen, which, he says, "has not been before taken notice 

 of." Prevost and Dumas in their paper^» on the chick (1827) cited Geoffroy Saintriiiaire and 

 Home and said (p. 421), "Les jaunes de I'ovaire ont une cicatricule trt^s apparent ... lille est 

 marquee de deux cercles concentriques et d'un point plus transparent qui en occupc Ic 

 centre. Ce dernier semble produit par une ouverture de la membrane du jaune." Obviously 

 they knew nothing of Purkinje's "Gratulationsbrief" of i82r,. 



It is interesting to note that this interpretation differs from the original ideas of Provost. 

 as indicated by Dumas in his 1825 article^ in which he wrote concerning ovarian hens' eggs: 

 "Au centre de la cicatricule, on observe un point de couleur jaune, et d'apr^s les observations 

 recentes de notre excellent ami le docteur Prdvost de Geneve, celui-ci est du a une petite 

 vesicle transparente, entierement semblable a celle qui se rencontre dans la come des mam- 

 miferes des les premises jours de I'accouplement." Furthermore, Prevost, in a paper" on 

 the development of Unto (p. 450), had described a "clearer disc" in the ovarian oocvies. 

 Prevost's original idea of a vesicle or disc seems to have been replaced in 1827 by the notion 

 of an aperture, possibly because Dumas was more impressed by Home's remarks than by his 

 good friend's conclusions. It would appear then that Prevost and Dumas missed the discovery 

 of the germinal vesicle by as narrow a margin as they missed recognizing the mammalian 

 ovum (see Corneri^). Whoever may have seen the "poms" first, there is no question but tiiat 

 Purkinje's isolation of the vesicle was the first evidence that it is a discrete structure within 



the egg. 



(5) In the 1825 edition (p. 3) this passage reads: "Poms hie in cicatricula ovomm enixorum, 

 et qui in iitero atque in oviductu latent nusquam invenitur." In 1830 "enixorum" (that is, 

 "laid") is changed to "auctomm" (that is, "grown" eggs). Von Baer had stated in 1827^ '^i^t 

 he had in a single instance found a ripe ovarian egg of the hen in which the germinal vesicle 

 had disappeared (p. 28): "Semcl enim in ovo gallinaceo maturo, in ovario quidem relenlo 

 sed ad ejectionem parafo, vesiculam non inveni." In 1828 he had demonstrated the dog's 

 egg to Purkinje, A. Retzius, J. Miiller, and E. Weber (see Corner,^" p. 86) and this matter of 

 the disappearance of the germinal vesicle may weW have been discussed at that time. In any 

 case, Purkinje stressed the matter in the 1830 "Praefatio" and changed the text. 



(6) The students of spermatozoa and of blood appear to have been the first to note the 

 untoward effects of water on living cells. Charles Bonnet" in 1779 states that he had observed 

 in 1773 "Si on fait toucher sur les animalcules du spermc humain une goutte d'eau de pluie 

 oil meme d'eau distille, ils perdent a I'instant le mouvement, mais ils le conscrvent dans la 

 salive chaude ou froide." William Hewson," in 1777, described the change of form and the 

 plasmolysis of red blood corpuscles on the addition of water to blood. Purkinje found, as 

 soon as he had his compound microscope (1832), "class manche Gegenstiinde in ihrer Form 

 und Gestalt durch Wasser veriindert werden" (article-" on "Ei," 1834, p. 114). He recom- 

 mended the use of the thin (outer) albumen of the hen's egg as a mounting medium. In the 

 first edition of his Handbuch der Physiologic^ (1834) Johannes Miiller referred casually to 

 the effects of water on red blood corpuscles and recommended diluting the blood with weak 

 salt or sugar solutions. J. Henle^^ in 1841 says regarding the study of fresh tissues, "Nicht 

 ohne bittere Erfahrungen hat man gelernt, dass die Wahl der Flussigkeit, deren man sich ... 

 bedient, nicht gleichgiiltig ist" (p. 143). He advises the use of aqueous and vitreous humors. 

 blood serum, and dilute solutions of sugar, cooking salt, and other neutral salts. This seems 

 to have led giadually to the general use of normal salt solutions. The earliest study of the 

 exact concentrations of salts necessary to prevent cell injury that I have found is that of 

 de Vries*' (1871) on the cells of the red beet. 



