40 THE GENERAL CHARACTERS OF CELLS, BY S. STRICKER. 



tion could be raised against him than against another who 

 should maintain that the migrating cells are epithelia. 



Recklinghausen* has advanced a theory respecting the con- 

 jugation of cells, which, however, on account of its brevity, 

 scarcely allows us to judge of its value. The fact that the 

 most beautiful example of cell fission, segmentation of the 

 ovum, does not occur without fertilization, hardly enables 

 us satisfactorily to determine the question whether the con- 

 jugation of cells is not a more frequent process than is 

 generally admitted. 



FORMS OF CELLS. No general statement can be made re- 

 specting the form of the amoeboid cells, since the mutability of 

 their shape is their distinguishing characteristic. It is to be 

 presumed also that they present very different forms in death, 

 and hence no certain conclusions can be drawn from the appear- 

 ances presented by dead amoeboid cells. These remarks are, 

 however, only applicable whilst the cells remain suspended in 

 fluid. In places where numbers are accumulated together they 

 become flattened. Thus the segmentation spherules, whilst 

 still in their natural position, are polyhedral with flattened 

 sides, which are mutually opposed to the similar surfaces of 

 others. Similar appearances are presented in most instances 

 where soft and yielding cells completely fill a given space ; 

 but one axis may be longer than another, as is the case in the 

 inferior layers of laminated epithelia, where they generally 

 form prisms, or are arranged in the manner of palisades. The 

 cells which are superjacent to them, on the other hand, are 

 polyhedral, without any one axis being longer than another. 

 The uppermost layers of laminated epithelia are usually 

 flattened. 



The cells of the laminated epithelium of the upper part of 

 the respiratory tract are for the most part elongated, and pre- 

 sent two principal varieties in form, one of which is that of a 

 longer or shorter flask-like body, giving off a process from 

 one of its ends, whilst the other is that of a fusiform cell with 

 a relatively short belly and elongated attenuated extremities, 



* Max Schultze's Archiv, Band ii. 



