424 E. V. COWDRY 



Of course it does not follow that they behave in the same way 

 in the cells in the organism, but the observation nevertheless 

 strengthens our suspicions of the ancient hypothesis of a proto- 

 plasmic reticulum, which still persists in the form of misleading 

 diagrams in all our textbooks of histology. 



Following along the lines of Maximow's ('13, p. 244) studies 

 N. H. Cowdry has observed the changes in the shape of mito- 

 chondria in the strearaing protoplasm of living plant cells. He 

 has seen filaments assume the form of loops and spirals in res- 

 ponse to currents and eddies in the stream indicating clearly 

 that they are flexible and that their form is in a measure deter- 

 mined by their environment. 



In spite of observations such as these the literature is still 

 befogged by the use of a specific term for each of the different 

 forms of mitochondria. Thus, some would restrict the term 

 'mitochondria,'- which was originally applied to them, to gran- 

 ules only; when the granules are arranged in rows they would 

 be called 'chondriomites' ; the filaments, 'chondriocontes' ; the 

 word, 'chondriosomes,' would be used as a generic term to in- 

 clude all the forms: and, finally, the cytoplasmic content of 

 mitochondria would be styled the 'chondriome.' This sys- 

 tem of terminology was very popular for a few years. It was 

 partially supplanted by the short-lived Tlastochondriai' nomen- 

 clature advocated by Meves ('10, p. 150), the chief objection to 

 which is that it was devised to proclaim the view that mito- 

 chondria play an important part in histogenesis. American 

 investigators have, with few exceptions, from the beginning 

 employed the term 'mitochondria,' exclusively, recognizing 

 well that the same material, under different conditions, may 

 assume special forms. Even the word 'mitochondria' leaves 

 many things to be desired, but it is in general use, it is descrip- 

 tive of morphology only and it does not commit the user to any 

 hj^pothesis of the fimctional significance of the materials in 

 question. True, we cannot use the name in the exact sense 

 that Benda, who introduced it, used it no more . than we can 

 employ the term 'cell' with anything like its original meaning. 



* From fiiros, a thread and xovbpos. a grain. 



