362 R. R. BENSLEY 



green, and correctly identified them with the filaments of Altmann. 

 He also remarked that they were distinct from the basal filaments 

 of Solger. Laguesse, on the other hand, while he observed them 

 both by methods of his own and by Michaelis' method considered 

 that they were related to the so-called ergastoplasma (that is, 

 basal basophile substance or filaments), and called them ergastid- 

 ions. Babkiu, Rubaschkin and Ssawitsch ('09) gave excellent 

 figures showing these structures but failed to interpret them. 



Without doubt these filaments are responsible for the striations 

 seen in the living cell by R. Heidenhain and others, for, using a 

 3 mm. apochromatic lens of 1.40 numerical aperture, one can see 

 them perfectly in the living cell and recognize the exact parallel 

 in structural characters between them and the filaments demon- 

 strated by Altmann. Moreover, if janus green is added to such 

 a preparation, while it is under observation, the structures may 

 be seen to take up the dye until they stand out as sharply stained 

 as they appear in an Altmann preparation. Thus, there can be 

 no doubt of the vital preexistence of Altmann's filaments. 



The distinction between these filaments and the basal filaments 

 of Solger or ergastoplasma is sufficiently obvious from their 

 structure, the filaments of Altmann being coarse bacillus-like 

 structures, the basal filaments on the contrary fine filaments which 

 are much longer and which form an intricate skein. The basal 

 filaments are always basophile, while the filaments of Altmann 

 only stain in basic dyes when specially mordanted with this end 

 in view. When fixed in non-mordanting solutions like neutral 

 formaline they are distinctly oxyphile. Furthermore, it is possible 

 to demonstrate the two kinds of materials side by side with dif- 

 ferential staining, as was the case in the preparation from which 

 fig. 11 is taken. Here the basophile material stains with the 

 basic stain methyl green while the filaments of Altmann Stain with 

 the acid stain fuchsin. Similar results will be attained by other 

 combinations of acid and basic dyes. For example, in a neutral 

 combination of acid violet and safranin the basophile substance 

 stains red in the safranin and the filaments stain violet in the acid 

 dye. A mixture of pyronin and methyl blue gives a correspond- 

 ing result. Furthermore, the independence of the filaments of 



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