196 NOTES AND MEMORANDA. 



The Iodine Reaction of the Cells of Cartilage and Notochord.^ 

 —By Professor E. Neumann, of Konigsberg, in Prussia. (With 

 Plate.) In a previous paper Professor Neumann ('' Observations 

 on theCartilage-tissue and theProcess of Ossification/' in ^Archiv. 

 d. Heilkunde/ xi, p. 414, 1870) stated that cartilage-cells under 

 the action of solutions of iodine assume a red-brown or even dark- 

 brown colour. Ranvier ('Traite Technique d^Histologie ') sup- 

 poses this colour to be due to the presence of glycogen in the 

 cartilage-cells. "To obtain the reaction it is best to use weak 

 solutions of iodine, which give to the other tissue-elements only 

 a pale yellow tint. The 'iodine-red' cartilage-cells appear 

 then in just the same colour as the tissue of amyloid degenera- 

 tion. '^ The protoplasm of the cartilage-cells that shows the 

 above iodine-red colouration either represents only part of the 

 cell-substance, or this latter appears wholly in that tint. In 

 the first instance there is generally a marked boundary between 

 the red and yellow part of the cell-substance. The nucleus does 

 not participate in the red reaction. 



The iodine reaction was very beautifully shown in the cells of 

 the gelatinous particles forming the contents of the cavity of an 

 enchondroma. The portions of the cell-substance which assume 

 the iodine-red colouration presented everywhere *'the character 

 of a homogeneous, somewhat glistening substance/' probably of 

 viscous consistency. 



Already in the embryo the cartilage cells show the above 

 iodine reaction, and they retain it all through their life. The 

 small, flat cartilage-cells situated in the periphery underneath 

 the perichondrium form an exception, as they never show the 

 reaction. 



Not only the cartilage cells of hyaline, but also those of 

 fibrous, as well as elastic cartilage, show the iodine-reaction. 



In precisely the same manner comport themselves the cells of the 

 notochord of Petromyzon, Rana, and human embryos. 



The chemical examina ;on of the notochord of Petromyzon, 

 carried out by Professor idiSe, proved most conclusively the pre- 

 sence of glycogen. — E. K. 



The Juice-Passages in Hyaline Cartilage.2 By Dr. Albkecht 

 Budge. (AVith Plate.) By means of injections of soluble Berlin- 

 blue, asphalt dissolved in chloroform or in benzol or turpentine, 

 Budge was able to convincehimself of the following points : — (1) 

 From the periosteal (resp. perichondial) lymphatics it is possible 

 to inject cartilage capsules near the ossification-zone, so that there 

 exists a free communication between the two. 



' ' Archiv f. Mikroskop. Anatouiie,' Bd. xiv, Heft, i, p. 54 — 59. 

 » Idem. 



