42 R. R. BENSLEY 



granule's are of another nature, since I have shown that in hyper- 

 plastic glands of the opposum and in human glands from cases 

 of exophthalmic goiter, non-mitochondrial fuchsinophile granules 

 occur. These will require further discussion when the secretory 

 by-products are considered. 



With the exception of Hiirthle, Langendorff , and Schmidt, prac- 

 tically all observers agree that the colloid cells of Langendorff 

 are cells in the last stages of cytomorphosis. The perfect grada- 

 tion between these cells and the so-called principal cells on the 

 one hand and the obviously degenerating cells of the follicle on 

 the other hand leaves little doubt of their significance. The 

 changes in the nucleus, the disappearance of mitochondria, and, 

 in many cases, the visible disintegration of the cytoplasm, or 

 desquamation of the cell, all point to the correctness of this 

 conclusion. 



Thus by elimination we arrive at the conclusion that the only 

 secretory antecedents thus far demonstrated in the thyroid epi- 

 thelial cells which maiy be considered to be normal products, are 

 the colloid globules of Biondi, and Hiirthle, to which belong also 

 the chromophile granules of Anderson, and the so-called chromo- 

 phobe secretion of Anderson. It is necessary therefore to exam- 

 ine in greater detail the occurrence of these products in the thy- 

 roid epithelial cells, with the object of determining whether they 

 are actually related to the formation of intrafoUicular colloid, 

 whether they are sufficient to account for the physiological ac- 

 tivity of the gland, and what indications they afford of the rate 

 of formation of the intrafoUicular colloid. 



Hiirthle found that, when the thyroid tissue was reduced by 

 the removal of the whole of one lobe and two-thirds of the other, 

 in many places in the gland the epithelial cells contained droplets 

 of substance which was sharply defined by its staining reaction 

 from the surrounding protoplasm, but agreed in all respects with 

 the colloid contained in the follicular lumina. Similar results 

 he obtained by ligating the common bile duct and the thoracic 

 duct simultaneously. In these glands also he found the lym- 

 phatic vessels much dilated and filled w^ith strongly staining col- 

 loid substance without admixture of formed elements. He con- 



