THE FUNDAMENTAL ORGANIZATION 77 



noted that glutathion is abundant where mitochondria are abun- 

 dant and vice versa. He has also shown that the oxidation-reduction 

 potential (indicated by the expression rH) varies with the distri- 

 bution of glutathion, low when glutathion is abundant, and high 

 when it is scarce. 



While there is considerable evidence to indicate an association 

 between mitochondria and protoplasmic respiration, Joyet-Lavergne 

 himself finds that the association is not always demonstrable and 

 in some cases is highly improbable, and admits that there are 

 probably other functions of the mitochondria. 



On the whole we are still in the air as regards the function or func- 

 tions of mitochondria. The variety of interpretations that have 

 been advanced, and often upon good evidence, suggests that we 

 may have to do here with cellular elements which have a general 

 enzymatic significance and functional both in constructive and in 

 destructive activities. As synthesizing enzymes they may be 

 agents in the selection of different materials from the cytoplasm 

 and in fashioning them into proteins, starch, fats, essential oils, etc. 

 (Cowdry, 1924, 1926; Regaud, 1909, etc.), or by metamorphosis 

 they may give rise directly to plastids of different kinds in the cell 

 (Guilliermond, et al.) ; or by degeneration giving rise to substances 

 like chromidia which Gatenby regards as badly damaged mito- 

 chondria. As catalytic enzymes they may act as oxidases in respira- 

 tion, or as hydrolyzing agents in protein and carbohydrate digestion. 



It would seem that we are either demanding too much of one 

 type of protoplasmic substance or that the term mitochondria 

 embraces a large number of substances having different functions, 

 but with a common lipoidal composition in which the protein com- 

 ponent is the chief variable. Furthermore, it is not improbable 

 that the Golgi apparatus of the cell represents an extreme variation 

 of this type of substance. 



4. Golgi Apparatus.— Another cytoplasmic substance which had 

 been identified as a phospholipin (Faure-Fremiet) or lipoproteid 

 (Bouin, Bowen, Hirschler, King, Horning, Joyet-Lavergne, etc.), 

 and known as the Golgi apparatus, Golgi bodies or (in part) dictyo- 

 somes, is also widely distributed in different groups of Protozoa. 

 There are many points of resemblance between this substance and 

 that of mitochondria, particularly in their lipoid composition and 

 consequently in their reactions to special stains. In many types 

 the Golgi bodies— dictyosomes— and mitochondria are apparently 

 indistinguishable (e. g., Gregarina blattarum, Spirostomum ambiguum 

 and Opalina ranarum according to Hirschler, 1924), but in cases 

 where, on morphological grounds, they are unmistakable, they 

 differ from mitochondria in their larger size and in their tendency 

 to clump together in masses, or to form a definite reticulum or net- 

 work (Metazoa) in the vicinity of the nucleus. 



