Proceedings of the Association of American Anatomists XVII 
the cell. In many cells a small space on one side of the nucleus is found 
to be free from the granules and probably contains the centrioles, al- 
though the large number of granules present in the cell makes the actual 
observation of them difficult. The granules do not correspond in their 
chemical properties either with the zymogen granules of the acinus or 
with the prozymogen. Unlike the zymogen granules they do not dissolve 
in 70% alcohol, and they differ from the prozymogen by not staining in 
toluiden blue or polychrome methylene blue. It seems probable that we 
have to deal here with a specific element of the islets of Langerhans differ- 
ing both from the cells of the acinus and from the ordinary islet cell. By 
analogy with the hypophysis, to the chromophile cells of which these cells 
bear a remarkable resemblance, they may be called the chromophile cells 
of the islet of Langerhans. They have been found in the cat, dog, rabbit, 
white rat and guinea-pig. 
EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES ON THE NATURE OF THE CELLS COMPOS- 
ING THE GASTRIC GLANDS OF THE DOG. By B.C. Harvey. Hull 
Laboratory of Anatomy, University of Chicago. 
The changes which take place in the bodies of the fundus glands of 
the dog as a result of gastro-enterostomy were described and discussed. 
After gastro-enterostomies the cells in the bottoms of the fundus-glands 
at the site of operation which normally are ferment-forming cells are 
replaced by mucous cells. After 6$ months, however, the cells in this 
region are all ferment cells again, as in the normal stomach. Similar 
changes occur after simple incisions into the gastric mucous membrane. 
The new mucous cells which are formed in the first two months could 
not be formed by the division of previously existing cells of the same 
kind because mitoses are extremely infrequent in this location. They 
could not arise from parietal cells because no transformation stages can 
be observed. They must, therefore, have arisen by the transformation of 
ferment-forming chief cells, the number of which is inversely propor- 
tional to that of the mucous cells. The direct proof that the ferment- 
forming chief cells become mucous cells can be found in the fact that 
transition stages have been observed. The new ferment-forming chief 
cells found at 64 months after the operation were shown to have been 
formed by transformation of mucous cells. The conclusion was drawn 
that these cells are not specifically distinct but may change from one type 
to the other, and later resume their original condition, in response to 
the action of varying external conditions. Also, mucous transformations 
of ferment cells are not to be regarded as necessarily either degenerations 
or final differentiations. 
17 
