31 



rent hemalogenic elements, will probably also some day be 

 cleared up by the melliod o! explanation. 



Another big unknown iichl in the physiology and patho- 

 logy of tissues, which doubtless can be accomplished through 

 the cultivation method, is the study of the intimate struc- 

 ture of the cell under various conditions, the study of the 

 degenerative processes as well as the generative processes 

 in the cells. The biochemical investigation of the conditions 

 under which mitochondria, fat, glycogen and pigment are 

 produced and the conditions under which the various de- 

 generative processes (amyloid for instance) take place can 

 be studied in the tissue cultures. 



Within the pathology, the work on innnunity will be ex- 

 ceedingly important from the viewpoint of tissue cultivation. 

 To observe, for instance, whether there are certain tissues 

 only which contribute to the formation of antibodies, or 

 whether there are certain tissues which possess a natural 

 immunity to certain virus; not to speak of the enormously 

 interesting field of the cytotoxins. It is difficult to under- 

 stand why not more investigators have taken up the study 

 of immunity in tissue cultures. Carrel and I n g e b r i g t- 

 s e n '•0 ) and later Fischer i^^) i^^) are the only ones who 

 have studied the production of antibodies in tissues cultivated 

 in vitro. Burrows used the growth of tissues in vitro 

 as an indicator for the toxin and antitoxin combination. 

 This has actually nothing to do with the production of anti- 

 bodies in vitro. A. Fischer i^^) ^^^) has shown how it is 

 possible to use the tissue cultures to stud}^ the action of 

 antigen and, at the same time, in its rate of growth obtain 

 a measure for the amount of antibodies produced during 

 a period of immunization. By this method it will be possible 

 to see if all kinds of cells respond in the same way, as 

 did, for instance, the ten—year old strain of fibroblasts. 

 Through this immunological method it will probably be 

 possible to study the interaction between the various dif- 

 ferentiated tissue cells. In other words, to investigate the 



