The Microscope. 197 



" It is for the first time that the so-called ' wandering cells ' 

 "have been successfully fixed by means of this method. A bril- 

 liant confirmation of Strieker's assertion indeed ! The small 

 light fields are pure protoplasm, remaining untouched by nitrate 

 of silver. From these fields start broad offshoots, which, in their 

 direction and diameter, correspond pretty nearly to the normal 

 conditions. The difference, however, is that these offshoots do 

 not appear light, but light-brown and coarsely granular, owing 

 to the fact that they are just commencing to be transformed into 

 basis substance. In the offshoots the light reticulum is recog- 

 .iiized, though perceptibly broader than in the surrounding dark- 

 brown basis substance. In the illustration we see, as far as this 

 can be represented without coloring, all transitions from a light 

 to a dark-brown shading, according as to whether the transfor- 

 mation of protoplasm into basis substance has only just begun 

 or is already completed." 



" Since the perfectly light fields are nothing but the fragments 

 of the normal cornea corpuscles and always visible within the 

 original coarse network of the protoplasm, the logical deduction 

 is that we are dealing with, comparatively speaking, a quick 

 •transformation of protoplasm into basis substance, and vice versa 

 In a freshly inflamed specimen this fluctuation, at the first 

 glance, unquestionably gives the impression of an amoeboid lo- 

 comotion. Strieker rectified the error of all former investigators, 

 and the classification of the cornea corpuscles of von Reckling- 

 hausen into ' wandering ' and ' fixed ' cells must consequently be 

 abandoned." 



" In no stage of inflammation of the cornea, where the inflam- 

 matory process is located in the centre, does the migration of 

 ■colorless blood corpuscles, in the sense of Cohnheim, play any 

 part whatever." 



Since Dr Mennen has studied under my superintendence, he 

 correctly expresses my own views which entirely corrborate 

 Strieker's assertion. I am fully aware of the revolution that 

 must be the consequence of this assertion in the views held as 

 correct for half a century. First, I have denied the existence of 

 isolated " cells " in the cornea, proving, at the same time, the 

 life of its basis substance. Next I have denied the presence of 

 lymph-channels, demonstrating their identity, as far as size and 

 •distribution are concerned, with the protoplasmic tracts. And 



