272 KIYOYASU MAKUI 



glia cells, which were met more freciuently around the blood- 

 vessels than in the other parts of the synapse. Large and old 

 cells showed vacuoles of different size in their bodies. Some of 

 these glia cells showed another kind of granules, which were dem- 

 onstrated by means of the thionin-eosin stain in a characteristic 

 metachromatic or more or less blue-violet color. The granules 

 fill the cell body as well as the processes ; the size is variable, but 

 in any one cell they are of almost equal size. The shape of these 

 granules is round or that of irregular lumps. Another charac- 

 teristic of this kind of granules is that in the illumination by elec- 

 tric light they are especially beautifully observable. In the space 

 around the blood-vessels and also in other parts of the sjaiapse I 

 often noticed a group of these granules; this is to be interpreted 

 as the section of a cell or its process, bearing this kind of granules. 

 As far as my observation went, these granules do not lie freely 

 in the tissue. 



What is the nature of these granules? Reich (27, 28, 29, 30) 

 demonstrated in the Schwann cells of the peripheral nerve fibers 

 rod- or comma-shaped fairly large granules (7r-granules), which 

 were brought out in a characteristic metachromatic stain by 

 means of thionin, toluidin-blue or kresyl- violet, and he identified 

 these granules with the protagon of Liebreich on account of the 

 similarity of the staining reaction and of the solubility in warm 

 alcohol (45°) and in warm ether. He found, moreover, that they 

 are soluble also in warm xylol, that they are not at all stainable 

 in acid stains, and also that they are especially beautifully ob- 

 servable in the illumination by electric light. 



Later, in certain pathological conditions, Alzheimer (1) dem- 

 onstrated in the neurogolia cells granules which gave a char- 

 acteristic metachromatic basophile stain by means of toluidin- 

 bhie and thionin ; he identified these granules with the Tr-granules 

 of Reich aiid called them metachromatic basophile granules, al- 

 though the granules differed somewhat from the Tr-granules mor- 

 phologically. I did not test the properties of solubility of the gran- 

 ules, which I observed in the glia cells; but on the basis of 

 their staining reaction and - morphological characteristics I as- 

 sume that they are identical with the metachromatic basophile 



