SECRETOEY FUNCTIONS IN HUMAN PLACENTA 519 



Corlier ('96) and Maximow ('01) were it seems, deemed by 

 these authors an essential ingredient in the formation of gland- 

 ular cells; however, M. Heidenhain with Nicolas ('92) attrib- 

 uted one part of them rather to artificial production, while the other 

 was brought into being in the form it appears in, possibly be- 

 cause the granules were reduced in size in connection with 

 secreting functions. And in recent times the researches re- 

 garding pancreas cells, conducted by Babkin, Rubaschkin, 

 and Ssawitsch ('09), have proved the above mentioned views 

 of Heidenhain with more force and accuracy; that is, in the 

 opinions of these authors, clear halos around the granules are, 

 after all, nothing else but secreted matter which appears as a 

 liquefied product of the granular substance. And that such 

 an image should be a sign of an important period in secretion 

 formation within the cell bodies will be clear in the statement 

 made by the three authors mentioned above on the changes 

 which zymogene granules undergo at the period of a pancreas 

 secretion: ''Wir erhalten den Eindruck, als ob das (Zymogene) 

 Kornchen sich allmahlich auflost, in dem es sich immer mehr und 

 mehr verkleinert und in ein kleines verwandelt" (p. 92). 



Fourth form. According to the views of Babkin, Rubaschin, 

 and Ssawitsch above referred to, this presents an appearance some- 

 what like a modification of the third form. That is to say, 

 many secretory granules together with the intergranular sub- 

 stance concerned form themselves into somewhat large masses, 

 which latter slowly begin to liquefy from the periphery, and 

 are then gradually changed entirely into secretion in rather 

 large drops, to be drained out into the glandular lumen. Com- 

 pared with the third form, in which each individual granule 

 becomes liquefied separately, this type differs from the former 

 in that a number of granules coagulated together in lumps 

 are transformed gradually into drops of secretion. This form 

 is distinctly demonstrated at a time when the function of pan- 

 creas cells is very greatly increased, especially by means of 

 stimulating the vagus nerves or of soap infusion in the duo- 

 denum, it being characteristic of the secretion at such a time 

 that the latter is very dense, and is rich in albumen and fer- 



