224 DR. W. N. F. WOODLAND ON THE 



extracts the gas from the blood and forces it against great 

 pressure into the bladder : the supposition is, on his view, simply 

 a legitimate deduction from the facts, and the details of the 

 process, upon which he can throw no light, are of secondary 

 importance. ISTusbaum & Reis, on the other hand, profess 

 to have discovered in the cytology of the gas gland cell, some 

 details of the pi'ocess which prove that the gas gland is not the 

 mere pump which Jaeger assumes it to be. The view of ISTusbavim 

 & Reis is briefly this : — Examination of the cells of the gas gland 

 proves the existence of spherical spaces in the cytoplasm Avhich 

 are not mere vacuoles as Jaeger assumed, but represent actual 

 gas bubbles being formed in the cell. These gas biibbles are also 

 to be found in the act of being ejected from the cells, and also 

 lying freely in the gland ducts and bladder lumen, Jaeger himself 

 necessarily agreeing that they are bubbles when found outside the 

 cells, since liquid vacuoles could not possibly so pei'sist. Thus 

 much is a matter of observation, but JSTusbaum & Reis contend, 

 in explanation of these facts, that these bubbles of gas are pro- 

 duced by the actual decomposition of the substance of the gas gland 

 cells, just as gases are produced by putrefaction, and in proof of 

 this cell-decomposition they describe the actual breaking-up of 

 the cells — the nuclei * fraginenting in the manner described by 

 Deineka for the Perch and the cytoplasm becoming converted 

 into the masses of gi-anuiar matter found in the gland ducts and 

 bladder lumen. The principal reason which leads xNusbaum &, 

 Reis to this surprising conclusion is the supposed incompetence 

 of the blood to supply the percentage of nitrogen gas found in the 

 bladder. Among minor features of this hypothesis of Nusbaum 

 & Reis, we may mention that they regard the disintegration of 

 the red blood corpuscles both as a source of nutiition for the gas 

 gland cells (the granular striping of the borders of gland cells in 

 contact with capillaries and the intracellular channels penetrating 

 the gland-cells being evidence of the cells absorbing this nvitrition) 

 and as a source of the oxygen which, Avith the nutrition, 

 is urgently required by the cells in connection with their rapid 

 decomposition, 

 f Thus the respective view^s of Jaeger and Nusbaum & Reis 



largely differ as regards the function attributed to the individual 

 gas gland cell. Jaeger regards it as essentially a pumping 

 mechanism ; Nusbaum &, Reis regard it as, primarily, mere 

 substance to be decomposed into its gaseous and solid constituents, 

 both being extruded into the bladder. 



I will now proceed to discuss these two views as a preliminary 

 to a statement of my own views on the subject. Apart from 

 omissions common to both theories, which I shall endeavour to 

 lemedy shortly, the chief fault to be found with the theory of 

 Jaeger is his refusal to recognize the origin of the gas bubbles in 

 the cells of the gas gland. Concerning the existence of these 



* 1 maj' point out in this connection tliat during lisemolysis tlie nucleus of 

 the red corpuscles appears to persist quite unchanged, even though the cytoplasm 

 may become entirely disintegrated. 



