STRUCTURE OF THE MAMMALIAN GASTRIC GLANDS. 377 



the body of the gland red, and the white fibres of connective 

 tissue blue. The protoplasm of the chief cells of the neck of 

 the gland also stains red, but the portion of these cells con- 

 taining secretion stains intensely blue (fig. 6). Staining in 

 indulin solutions alone does not give successful results, as the 

 stain in this form is also taken up diffusely by the other cells ; 

 but mixtures containing only eosin and indulin, or orange G 

 and indulin, give fairly good results. This colour reaction is 

 very little affected by the mode of fixation, as it may be 

 obtained in exactly the same features as indicated in fig. 6, in 

 preparations hardened in absolute or dilute alcohol, or aqueous 

 corrosive sublimate. 



In sections stained in the indulin mixture the inner zone of 

 the cell appears vacuolated, exhibiting in optical section a 

 network of thick bars separating spaces, in which lies blue- 

 stained secretion. The network also stains, as a rule, much 

 more intensely than the secretion, indicating that it too is 

 impregnated with the indulinophilous substance. Not rarely 

 one may notice irregular clumps or flakes of deeply stained 

 substance lying in the spaces of the cell network, giving the 

 cell a coarsely granular appearance. This is never observed in 

 cells fixed in aqueous sublimate, and is probably due to the 

 rapid extraction of water by the alcoholic fixative, and a 

 consequent precipitation in this form of the solids of the 

 secretion. 



It will be noted that the inner zone of these cells, when 

 stained in the indulin mixture, exhibits a coarse network, while 

 in hsematoxylin eosin sections the network is finer than in the 

 chief cells of the body of the gland. The reason appears to 

 be that the solids of the secretion are precipitated along the 

 bars of the protoplasmic network, and when intensely stained 

 give these a triple thickness. In sections stained in concen- 

 trated solutions of the indulin mixture, one sometimes finds 

 the true protoplasmic portion of the network stained red, and 

 it then presents the same characters as in the hajmatoxylin 

 eosin sections. 



As one follows the neck of the gland downwards, it is seen 



VOL. 41, FART 3. NEW SKRIES. DD 



