SARCODINA 1061 



stage is granular, but shows no vacuoles nor cell inclusions. The 

 nucleus undergoes division by mitosis first into two, and then four 

 small ring-like nuclei, and the presence of these four nucleated 

 cysts is pathognomonic of the disease. They may be found most 

 abundantly, not in the small amount of mucus which may adhere 

 to the formed feces, but in surface scrapings from the fecal mass. 

 In addition to the four small ring-like nuclei, the cysts contain few 

 or many clumps of chromatin; these in total mass may be many 

 times greater than the nucleus, and it is impossible, therefore, that 



FIG. 125. ENTAMGEBA COLI. (Army Merl. School Collection, Washington, D. C.) 



they are simply extruded from the nucleus ; evidently, the chromatin 

 grains, while in the cytoplasm, increase in size and number. In 

 hematoxylin stains no structure in these masses is discernible and 

 their function is unknown ; it is possible that they are merely reserve 

 food material; after a time they disappear and one finds cysts quite 

 free of them. The presence, however, of many large chromatin 

 masses in the cysts is quite characteristic of Entamoeba histolytica. 

 These masses, which stain deeply with iron-haematoxylin, have been 

 given various names: chromatin, chromatoid masses, chromedia, 

 crystalloids, inclusions, etc. 



