Chapter X 



103 — Duality of the Chondriome 



As is seen, a single difference is shown between the chondrio- 

 somes and leucoplasts. Janus green stains the former more in- 

 tensely than the latter with a 0.01-0.02% solution of the dye. In 

 recent work, Miss SOROKIN has maintained that Janus green did 

 not stain the leucoplasts. This is inexact, but it is certain that 

 under some conditions Janus green stains the chondriosomes more 

 intensely than the leucoplasts. The chondriosomes and plastids of 

 epidermal cells as well as the chondriosomes of Saprolegnia are 

 preserved with the reagent iodine-potassium iodide which makes 

 them brown and renders them much more distinct than in living 

 material. Both these elements of the chondriome are preserved 

 with a 2% solution of osmic acid which does not turn them brown 

 but, if the preparation is treated with pyrogallol after being in 

 contact with osmic acid for half an hour or an hour, the chondri- 

 osomes and plastids appear gray. Both become even intensely 

 black after being for a long time 

 in a 40% solution of osmic acid 

 (method of osmic impregnation 

 used to reveal the Golgi mate- 

 rial). Lastly, the chondriosomes 

 and plastids of epidermal cells 

 and the chondriosomes of Sa- 

 prolegnia behave in exactly the 

 same way in regard to fixatives. 

 They are strongly modified and 

 lose their chromaticity when 

 treated with fixatives containing 

 alcohol and acetic acid, and are 

 preserved in their shapes and 

 are stained clearly with all 

 mitochondrial techniques (meth- 

 ods of Regaud, Benda, Meves, 

 Helly, Tupa, Volkonsky, Al- 

 VARADO's modification of Rio- 

 Hortega, etc.). They are stained 

 by Dietrich - Smith's method 

 (used for the detection of leci- 

 thins) and after sufficient time by indophenol blue. This behavior, 

 together with that described above, proves that the chondriosomes 

 and plastids have a similar lipide constitution. 



MiLOViDOV was able, moreover, to show in the chondriosomes 

 and plastids all the protein reactions, just as Giroud had demon- 

 strated them for the chondriosomes of animal cells. The two 

 categories of elements, therefore, have the same lipoprotein con- 

 stitution. More recently, MiLOViDOV demonstrated that the chon- 

 driosomes and plastids in the roots of pea and of Allium Cepa do 

 not give the Feulgen reaction and in consequence do not contain 

 thjnuonucleic acid. Chloroplasts, nevertheless, oifer much greater 

 resistance to fixatives containing acetic acid and alcohol than the 

 other plastids and the chondriosomes. Furthermore, in regard to 



Fig. 71. — Chondriosomes and plastids in 

 tlie prothallus of Adiantum capillus-Veneris. 

 1, vegetative cell; P, plastid. 3, very young 

 egg. 4, mature egg. 2, young embryo after 

 division of fertilized egg. Regaud's method. 

 (After Emberger). 



