OX THE XATURE OF THE GBAXIJLE CELLS OF PAXETH IN 

 THE IXTESTIXAL GLAXDS OF MAMMALS. 



SIDNEY 

 From the Hull Laboratory of- 



WITH 5 FIGURES. 



The recent activity in the investigation of the chemical and physio- 

 logical properties of the succus entericus, and the discoveries of new 

 enzymes which are produced by the intestinal mucous membrane, create 

 a renewed interest in the structure and relationship of the elements com- 

 posing the intestinal epithelium and glands, which are the sources of this 

 secretion. It becomes a fundamental problem of intestinal histology to 

 determine as far as possible the cytological and microchemical characters 

 of these elements and to compare them in these respects with similar 

 elements of known function from other sources. Of special interest in 

 this connection are the peculiar, coarsely granular cells which occupy the 

 deeper ends of the glands of Lieberkuhn, and which were first observed 

 in 1872 by Schwalbe, 72, in fresh material from the intestine of the rat. 



For some reason Schwalbe's description attracted little attention, and 

 it was not until 1888 when Paneth, 88, rediscovered them and described 

 at some length their microscopic and chemical characters, that these 

 cells became generally recognized as constant constituents of the intes- 

 tinal glands of certain mammals. For this reason they are generally 

 known as the granule cells of Paneth. 



Paneth regarded these granular cells as a specific kind of gland cell 

 wholly different from the globlet cell. Concerning their origin he was 

 somewhat in doubt, although he favored the view that they were derived 

 from indifferent mitotic cells farther up the gland, because of the face 

 that the granules became fewer towards the middle of the gland where 

 the mitoses occurred. 



Paneth described the granules, as observed in fresh preparations of the 

 mucous membrane, as moderately refractive structures, although not so 

 refractive as fat. Distilled water and solutions of caustic potash had no 

 effect on them, although they shrank somewhat in the latter and became 



AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ANATOMY. VOL. V. 



7371 04 



