178 Finer Structure of the Glandula Submavxillaris 
cytoplasm towards stains is similar to that of the cells of the ducts and 
of the granular areas. The nuclei are oval and are situated towards 
the central part of the cell. The change from the elongated, non- 
granular ductule cell to that of the large cubical, granule-holding cell 
of the granular area is also an abrupt one. Langley, 78, working from 
a physiological point of view, believed that there was a gradual transition 
from the cells of the ductule to the cells of the alveolus. He treated 
sections with osmic acid, which affords at best a poor protoplasmic stain. 
Nussbaum, 77, represented the ductules as formed of small, elongated 
cells, from which without intermediate forms, there is a sudden change 
to the large alveolar cell. By the use of osmic acid he found them to 
contain granules. Von Ebner, 72, had previously supported the view 
of a sudden change from the low, cubical cell of the ductule into the 
large alveolar cell. Lastly Klein, 82, has noted that the flattened, 
elongated, epithelial cells of the ductules pass directly into the columnar 
secreting cells of the large alveoli. An examination of preparations of 
thin sections, stained with iron hematoxylin, confirms the correctness of 
the observations of Nussbaum, von Ebner, and Klein. One hesitates to 
dispute an opinion, entertained by so distinguished an observer as 
Langley, but his technique was for physiological, not cytological purposes. 
In a later paper, 79, his opinion in regard to a graduation in form and 
size of cell was not so positive; he says, “Some of the cells, which, from 
their shape, certainly would be called ductule cells, certainly contain 
granules, though they are, I am inclined to believe, absent from the 
ductule cells, springing immediately from the ducts. The absence of 
cell outlines and the difficulty of obtaining thin sections of the fresh 
gland, makes a decision on this point difficult to arrive at.” 
The question of the existence of a differentiated, tubular portion of 
the gl. submaxillaris, designated by the name of Bermann’s gland, has 
been the subject of much controversy among investigators of salivary 
glands. Bermann, 78, described in connection with the submaxillary 
gland of the rabbit, a small tubular portion of the gland enclosed in the 
same connective capsule. This part of the gland he believed to be an 
“organ sui generis.” In the new born rabbit he found it to be very 
small and lying in close proximity to the -hilus of the gland. According 
to him a similar tubular portion occurs in the submaxillary glands of 
the guinea pig, bat, dog, cat, and fox. 
A number of other authors have confirmed, in the main, the observa- 
tions of Bermann. Langley, 79, found that sections of the gl. sub- 
maxillaris of the rabbit, made near the entry of the ductus Whartonianus. 
