816 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VII. No. 181. 



take on a deep red color, as do the nerve 

 fibres and connective elements, and this 

 contrasts finely with the deep but transpa- 

 rent purple of the nucleary structures. In 

 such specimens we were gratified to find 

 that the two distinct elements in the skin 

 are clearly differentiated. The large (Ley- 

 dig) cells are perfectly fixed, the cytoplasm 

 displaying a complete vesicular structure, 

 such as an examination during life under 

 favorable circumstances sometimes reveals. 

 ]S"ucleary figures are clearly marked and 

 shrinkage seems almost absent. The an- 

 tagonistic effect of chromic acid and alcohol 

 in the presence of a rapid fixer like platinic 

 chloride seems here to have proved of great 

 advantage. Compared with the best prep- 

 arations by Flemming's method the latter 

 appears at a great disadvantage because of 

 shrinkage phenomena. The later method, 

 however, is a valuable check because by it 

 the contents of the cytoplasmic vesicles are 

 demonstrated as dark globules, giving rise 

 to the familiar coarsely granular appearance 

 and giving evidence of a chemical differ- 

 ence between the vesicles and their con- 

 tents. But sufficiently good specimens by 

 either method, but especially such as were 

 prepared by the alcohol modification of 

 Merkel's fluid, showed that every individual 

 cell of the larger series is wrapped in a deli- 

 cate protoplasmic network which can be re- 

 solved into processes from protoblasts occu- 

 pying the interstices among the Leydig cells. 

 Often the meshwork can be traced from one 

 cell over its neighbor, and there can be no 

 doubt that the processes from separate pro- 

 toblasts unite to form the general reticulum. 

 It is also true that the protoblasts lie in all 

 parts of the epithelial layer, both ectad and 

 entad of the Leydig cells. 



As already mentioned, this reticulum 

 has been noticed by Paulicki in the Archv. 

 f. mikroscopische Anatomic, Vol. XXIV., 

 1884, but in the paper referred to the ma- 



ial had evidently been greatly shrunken. 



and as the result it appeared as finer, shriv- 

 eled network, and the absence of double 

 staining may have failed to reveal its pro- 

 toplasmic nature. The author, although 

 his drawings show the fibres embracing the 

 Leydig cells and passing from one to the 

 other, describes them as varicosities on the 

 wall ! Such a view is quite impossible after 

 an examination of the specimens. It might 

 be suggested that the naked protoplasmic 

 network is simply a part of a continuous 

 film covering these cells, and this possibly 

 may be the case during the life of the tis- 

 sues, though we incline to the belief that 

 the reticular structure is rather the expres- 

 sion of streaming notions. 



The variability in the size of the meshes 

 speaks for the latter view, as do the distor- 

 tions in parts of the skin that were folded 

 or stretched during hardening. The mesh- 

 work is most pronounced in thicker parts 

 of the skin, especially along the sides and 

 back. Whether it is the function of this 

 reticulum to supply nourishment to the large 

 extra- vascular (Leydig) cells, or to afford 

 the basis for a more direct coordination 

 than would otherwise be possible, it would, 

 in either case, remain true that trophic in- 

 fluence over the less plastic cells would be 

 an essential part of its function.* 



* Both Fitzinger aud Paulicki (Aroh. f. mik. Anat. 

 Band XXIV., 2.) describe these bands as thickened 

 ridges or varicosities of the walls of Leydig's cells, 

 and the former even goes so far as to suggest that 

 these 'rib-like thickenings of the cell-membrane 

 serve for attachment of the intercellular bridges.' 

 Paulicki says ' it may be assured that this meshwork 

 is occasioned by a rib-like partial thickening of the 

 cell-membrane, ' though he mentioned that the meshes 

 stain like the protoplasm. It is not strange that the 

 methods and optic aids then at disposal should per- 

 mit an error of this kind, but it is peculiar that the 

 same writer should go on to say that he ' observed 

 that a continuous frame-work extended over numer- 

 ous Leydig's cells ' and that similar me.shes continued 

 to adjacent epithelial cells. He also noticed, without 

 discovering its significance, the fact that the epithe- 

 lium cells are without walls, that is, are' protoblasts.' 

 In our specimens it is possible to find appearances 



