GOLGI IN VITRO 97 



obtained in certain cases, and that the Golgi apparatus is real, and 

 not an artefact. 



Several observations recently have shown that the Golgi 

 apparatus is more or less rigid, and at any rate of sufficient con- 

 sistency to retain its shape when extruded from the cell (Bowen, 

 10b, and Avel, 1b). Brambell, for example, has described the Golgi 

 apparatus in the secretory cycle of the ciliated epithelium of the 

 oviduct of the fowl, and notes the Golgi fragments extruded from 

 the cell (16). 



It is remarkable that there are few cases in which the Golgi 

 apparatus has been seen in the living cell. Strangeways and 

 Canti (123) have been unable to trace the Golgi apparatus in the 

 living cell grown in vitro under dark-ground illumination. The 

 mitochondria and fat droplets are, however, quite visible. It is 

 worthy of note that the process of mitosis was not too well seen, 

 and it may be that optical difficulties, not fully appreciated, have 

 prevented the Golgi apparatus from being seen. 



Other recent workers claim to have seen the apparatus either 

 in the living cell or else by means of a vital dye. Nath and 

 Mohan (102) state that the Golgi elements can be seen in the 

 oocytes of Periplaneta americana without the use of a vital dye, 

 and also by staining intra vitam with neutral red, which tinges the 

 Golgi vesicles pale red. King (71) also claims to have seen the 

 Golgi apparatus in Anoplophrya hasili in the unstained living cell 

 and by means of neutral red. In both these cases there does not 

 seem to be sufficient evidence to show that the structures seen 

 are the true Golgi apparatus. The validity of the use of neutral 

 red as a specific Golgi vital stain is extremely doubtful, and is due 

 to an acceptance of the Vacuome Theory. As Gatenby (35) has 

 very appropriately pointed out, the structures stained by neutral 

 red, and termed Golgi apparatus by the supporters of the Vacuome 

 Theory, are not universally argentophil, whereas the true or classical 

 Golgi apparatus is consistently so. 



A more reliable example is described by Rau, Brambell 

 and Gatenby (113), who publish photographs of the apparatus 

 stained intra vitam with Janus green, and by means of the Lewis 

 method. Other cases mentioned by workers [e.g., Nath) are found 



