congdon: effects of radium on living substance. — II. 365 



No sufficiently early condition of degeneration was found to determine 

 whether the spermatocytes are the first to suffer, as in the mammalian 

 testis. 



The ovaries of several worms were in a necrotic condition. The 

 usual effect was a clumping and dissolving of the chromatin of the 

 oogonia. The oocytes were more resistant. The most advanced 

 stage of degeneration was accompanied by a shrinkage of oocytes, 

 or a loss of their boundaries by a granular degeneration. Necrosis 

 of the mammalian ovarian follicles due to beta radiations has been 

 described by Halberstaedter, : 05 ; Bergonie, Tribondeau et Recamier, 

 :05; London, :05; and others. They find that the oocyte-stage, 

 like the corresponding stage in the testis, is the most sensitive. It is 

 noteworthy therefore that in the earthworm the oogonia were more 

 affected. 



Destruction of the digestive epithelium was common and especially 

 noticeable in the young worms. In the epithelial cells of the anterior 

 part of the digestive tract of the adult there was a loss of cell bounda- 

 ries, a vacuolation, and nuclear degeneration. The basal cells were at 

 times similarly affected, or their substance was broken down into 

 granules. The abnormal condition of the digestive epithelium was 

 associated with a distension of the lumen of the intestine by a liquid. 

 The radium may have acted by causing an unusual osmotic condition 

 which resulted in filling the stomach-intestine; or the digestive secre- 

 tions may have been weakened so that bacteria were able to thrive 

 and produce putrefaction. 



In mammals the digestive tract as a whole has been usually consid- 

 ered a region little sensitive to radium. Perhaps this opinion has 

 arisen partly because of the protection from the radiations afforded 

 by its central position in the body. In Allolobophora, on the contrary, 

 the small diameter of the body results in an action of the radiations 

 •on the stomach-intestine almost as intense as that on the body wall. 

 It is not possible to say that the degeneration of the digestive epithe- 

 lium is entirely due to the direct action of the radiations upon its cells, 

 since pressure of the fluid distending the lumen and the chemical 

 .action of the fluid may have hastened the destruction. 



The bod;^' wall was often broken down on one side of the animal, 

 presumably that which was longest near the radium. The lesions 

 were found in regions where the genital glands or intestine were 

 affected, but as they also occurred elsewhere, they were not necessa- 

 rily a result of the degeneration of those organs. The muscle plates 

 of muscle cells became massed together and the chromatin of both 



