84 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



minute structure of the luteal elements. In figure 21, in Novak's book on 

 " Human Menstruation and its Disorders," is a microphoto of a corpus luteum 

 of early pregnancy, and I believe that I can see in it the dark stellate elements 

 which have been described by me in this present paper. Iq the corpus luteimi 

 of menstruation described in this paper I did not find the para-lutein elements 

 of Novak, unless the nests of small cells (iV) in, PI. Ill, fig. 3, are to be 

 interpreted as such. In Novak's account of Marcotty's table of supposed 

 differences between the corpus of menstruation and that of pregnancy, no 

 mention is made of para-lutein cells as providing a method of discrimination 

 between the two sorts, and it is difficult to believe that Marcotty's evidence 

 would really cover the variations in structure and development of different 

 corpora lutea of menstruation. As a comparative histologist I find Marcotty's 

 criteria for man of no use for the lower mammals I have studied. 



In the corpus luteum of human menstruation, the Golgi apparatus of the 

 lutein cells retains its excentric juxta-nuclear position in almost every cell : 

 the exceptions to this rule are few in the corpus examined by me. In the 

 corpus luteum of pregnancy it will probably be found that the Golgi apparatus 

 tends to alter or spread'out much more in the lutean cells. The spreading 

 out and alteration of the Golgi apparatus seem to occur in the rat, and are 

 followed by a fluidifying or regression of the dictyosomes or Golgi elements : 

 thus, it should be possible on cytological grounds to discriminate between the 

 corpus luteum of menstruation and that of pregnancy. If this is so, the claim 

 made in older works on Medical Jurisprudence that the corpus luteum can be 

 used as an index of pregnancy will be theoretically fulfilled. The Golgi net- 

 work methods are so difficult and capricious, and the material needs to be so 

 fresh, that such a cytological line of evidence would be only of little value, 

 and difficult to bring forward. 



As above mentioned, Eiquier has described a Golgi apparatus in the 

 corpus luteum of the cow, and it has been shown that the human corpus luteum 

 in this way falls into line with the lower mammals. In the case of the 

 Golgi apparatus of cells other than spermatic, we have no inklings as to the 

 function of this remarkable intra-cellular organella. The Golgi apparatus of 

 the luteal cells becomes such a large and important structure, that we are 

 forced to believe that it must play some special part in the activity of the 

 luteal cells. Histologists and cytologists are only now endeavouring to push 

 forward along the paths that will lead us to a clear view of the part being 

 played by the Golgi apparatus in cell activity, and thence in the life of the 

 organism. 



The work of Edgar Allen and Edward Doisy gives a completely new 

 aspect to discussions on the function of the corpus luteum. Allen and Doisy 



