GOLGI IN SPERMATOGENESIS 111 



a peculiar divergence of procedure occurs. Instead of the aggrega- 

 tion of the isolated dictyosomes into a compound acroblast, each 

 dicyosome secretes in its own idioplasm a vesicle. These vesicles 

 subsequently run together to form a compound acrosome. There 

 is no reasonable doubt that the acrosome is secreted by the Golgi 

 cortex with or without the assistance of the idiosomal material. 



Writing in 1924, Cowdry (22), in speaking of the function of the 

 Golgi apparatus, is unable to come to any conclusion or even 

 to point the way to any possible general function of the Golgi. 

 " At present it is unwise to be too specific. Since the whole cell is 

 our unit it is altogether likely that the portion of the cytoplasm 

 which is revealed to us in fixed preparations in the form of the 

 now familiar Golgi apparatus may take part in many different vital 

 manifestations. . . . Its activities may be bent in one direction 

 during spermatogenesis and along entirely different lines in cells 

 specialised to perform other duties." 



The first step towards an understanding of the function of the 

 Golgi apj^aratus w^as taken by Nassonov (89) in 1923, when he 

 suggested that the phenomenon of secretion might be connected 

 with the Golgi apparatus. He pursued his own line of thought in 

 later papers which will be dealt with below, but it was left to 

 Bowen to approach the matter from the point of view of the Golgi 

 apparatus. In a series of papers (10a-d) he has shown past all 

 doubt that the Golgi apparatus is very intimately connected with 

 the production of secretory granules in many well-known glands. 



Bowen started with Nassonov's findings and attempted to cor- 

 relate them with his own work on spermatogenesis. (It must be 

 clearly understood that at that time (1924) the formation of the 

 acrosome was put down to secretory activity of the acroblast and 

 that it was practically the only case completely understood from 

 the morphological point of view.) He was quite clear that the 

 suggestions made were merely hypothetical, and the final proof of 

 them must consist of " a demonstration that the general topo- 

 graphical relationship of Golgi apparatus and secretory glands is 

 always such as to allow a possibility of the existence of some more 

 intimate association ; an extension of our knowledge of the finer 

 structure of the Golgi apparatus, especially in somatic cells ; and 



