CONGDON: EFFECTS OF RADIUM ON LIVING SUBSTANCE.— Il. 365 
No sufficiently early condition of degeneration was found to determine 
whether the spermatocytes are the first to suffer, as in the mammalian 
testis. 
The ovaries of several worms were in a necrotic condition. The 
usual effect was a clumping and dissolving of the chromatin of the 
oogonia. The odcytes were more resistant. The most advanced 
stage of degeneration was accompanied by a shrinkage of odcytes, 
or a loss of their boundaries by a granular degeneration. Necrosis 
of the mammalian ovarian follicles due to beta radiations has been 
described by Halberstaedter, :05; Bergonié, Tribondeau et Récamier, 
:05; London, :05; and others. They find that the odcyte-stage, 
like the corresponding stage in the testis, is the most sensitive. It is 
noteworthy therefore that in the earthworm the odgonia were more 
affected. 
Destruction of the digestive epithelium was common and especially 
noticeable in the young worms. In the epithelial cells of the anterior 
part of the digestive tract of the adult there was a loss of cell bounda- 
ries, a vacuolation, and nuclear degeneration. The basal cells were at 
times similarly affected, or their substance was broken down into 
granules. The abnormal condition of the digestive epithelium was 
associated with a distension of the lumen of the intestine by a liquid. 
The radium may have acted by causing an unusual osmotic condition 
which resulted in filling the stomach-intestine; or the digestive secre- 
tions may have been weakened so that bacteria were able to thrive 
and produce putrefaction. 
In mammals the digestive tract as a whole has been usually consid- 
ered a region little sensitive to radium. Perhaps this opinion has 
arisen partly because of the protection from the radiations afforded 
by its central position in the body. In Allolobophora, on the contrary, 
the small diameter of the body results in an action of the radiations 
on the stomach-intestine almost as intense as that on the body wall. 
It is not possible to say that the degeneration of the digestive epithe- 
lium is entirely due to the direct action of the radiations upon its cells, 
since pressure of the fluid distending the lumen and the chemical 
action of the fluid may have hastened the destruction. 
The body wall was often broken down on one side of the animal, 
presumably that which was longest near the radium. ‘The lesions 
were found in regions where the genital glands or intestine were 
affected, but as they also occurred elsewhere, they were not necessa- 
rily aresult of the degeneration of those organs. The muscle plates 
of muscle cells became massed together and the chromatin of both 
