70 J. A. BADERTSCHER 



been done on amphibians with a view of tracing out the origin of 

 eosinophile leucocytes. 



Brown ('98) is of the opinion that the products of degenerated 

 muscle tissue are a source of eosinophile granules. In cases 

 of trichinosis in man, he observed that the muscle fibers invaded 

 by Trichina spiralis undergo a granulation in the immediate 

 neighborhood of the parasite. All through the affected parts of 

 a muscle are found large numbers of leucocytes, many of which 

 are of the eosinophile type. The latter are very numerous in areas 

 of marked degeneration. Though there were no evidences that 

 the leucocytes ingested bodily fragments of muscle tissue, he 

 thinks that possibly the degenerated substance is taken up in a 

 soluble form and transformed into eosinophile granules. 



Weidenreich ('08, '11), who worked with mammals, is the chief 

 exponent of the theory that the eosinophile granules are hemoglo- 

 bin, containing products of degenerated erythrocytes. Accord- 

 ing to him, leucocytes may ingest entire erythrocytes which then 

 undergo disintegration, resulting in the formation of eosinophile 

 granules, or the disintegration of the red cells may take place 

 extracellularly and the eosinophile granules thus formed may be 

 taken up, in their fully formed condition, by the leucocytes. In 

 referring to the work of Brown he says Til, p. 635) : " . 

 auch die Mogiichkeit ist nicht ausgeschlossen, dass das Hamo- 

 globin der Muskelfasern, .... eine Rolle bei der Bildung 

 der Granula spielt." 



The amphibians furnish most suitable material to test the 

 correctness of this theory, for during the period of metamorphosis 

 marked disintegration of both erythrocytes and muscle tissue takes 

 place. Also the degeneration of muscle tissue in this class of 

 animals, in contrast to the pathological degeneration in cases of 

 trichinosis, is a normal process that regularly occurs while they 

 are adapting themselves to a different mode of life. While 

 Brown ('98) pointed out a possible relation of the origin of eosino- 

 phile cells to pathological degenerating muscle, no work appar- 

 ently has yet been done on any form to show a relation of the 

 origin of those cells to normally degenerating muscle. 



