AUTHOR'S ABSTRACT OF THIS PAPER ISSUED 
BY THE BIBLIOGRAPHIC SERVICE, APRIL 7 
ON THE NATURE, OCCURRENCE, AND IDENTITY OF 
THE PLASMA CELLS OF HOFBAUER 
ARTHUR WILLIAM MEYER 
Department of Embryology, Carnegie Institution of Washington, and Department of 
Anatomy, Stanford Medical School 
The history of these cells illustrates very well how a re-discovery, 
when accompanied by a fuller description, succeeds in domiciling 
itself in anatomical literature as an original discovery. As we 
shall presently see, Hofbauer (’05) was impressed especially 
by a conspicuous phase in the life history of a particular 
cell. He noted its reaction in the fresh state, to certain stains, 
described it more fully, and speculated with some freedom on its 
functional réle; but he did not discover this cell, as he supposed, 
in 1903. Although Hofbauer refers to his address given in 1903 
in his book published in 1905, he does not refer to or list the 
paper based on this address, published in 1903, in the title of which 
he refers to these cells as ‘hitherto unknown’ and as ‘constantly 
occurring.’ His failure, in 1905, to recognize earlier workers 
was, I presume, an oversight, which apparently led Essick (715) 
and others to assume that ‘‘Hofbauer first called attention to 
specific round cells appearing in the human placenta toward 
the end of the fourth week of pregnancy.”’ 
The type of cells which in recent years has been designated 
with Hofbauer’s name was known previously especially as Wan- 
derzelle and had been represented by various investigators. 
Minot (’12), in a footnote, refers to the latter fact and rightly 
adds: ‘‘It has long been known that strikingly large free cells 
appear in the mesenchyme of the chorion. They are pictured 
in my Human Embryology.’’ Reference to the illustration in 
this work shows a large, rather granular cell, with a somewhat 
eccentrically placed, vesicular nucleus, but without vacuoles. 
Moreover, previous to the publication of the Embryology, 
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JOURNAL OF MORPHOLOGY, VOL. 32, NO. 2 
