250 S. SAGUCHI 



either in a circumscribed portion, or over the whole of the sur- 

 face. Schmidt says that, though occurring numerously in the 

 epitheUum affected by catarrh, they are by no means infrequent 

 in the normal epithehum; the author surmises their mode of 

 development from the experiment, that, when ciliated cells are 

 isolated, they undergo change in shape and constrict off spheri- 

 cal ciliated corpuscles. Since these bodies, according to his 

 description, have no cuticular border, it must be fegarded as a 

 portion of the cytoplasm which has taken cilia with it. From 

 this description and his figures, it would seem that the ciliated 

 corpuscle of Neumann corresponds with the upper piece which 

 is produced by the constriction of the atrophying cihated cell. 

 In contradistinction to the view of Schmidt, however, I cannot 

 regard the corpuscle in question as derived from the cytoplasm 

 only, but as composed mainly of the cuticular border. Similar 

 corpuscles, but without ciha, were found by R. Heidenhain ('88) 

 in the intestine of the rabbit, into which sulphate of magnesium 

 was injected. From these facts it is evident that the constric- 

 tion of the cell-body is a phenomenon which occurs in the degen- 

 eration, either of the non-ciliated columnar, or of the ciliated 

 epithelial cell. 



The lower piece which is left behind in the epithelium rounds 

 itself off towards the basement membrane (figs. 61, 62), mean- 

 while the cytoplasm and nucleus become more and more clear 

 and the black corpuscles are absorbed. The chondriocontes ap- 

 pear afresh in the cytoplasm (fig. 62), which indicates that the 

 cell in question has not yet lost its vital activities. Thus the 

 atrophied ciliated cell is transformed into a replacement cell; 

 whether the latter returns to the ciliated cell, it is difficult to 

 determine with certainty. Now the question arises, why are 

 the cilia and the cuticular border cast off in the atrophy of the 

 cihated cell? I am inclined to believe that this phenomenon is 

 owing to their intense functional specialization which incapaci- 

 tates the structures from undergoing redifferentiation. 



