CURRENT - LITERATURE 
BOOK REVIEWS 
Heidenhain’s “Plasma und Zelle”’ 
The second part of HEIDENHAIN’S Plasma und Zelle' appeared early in 1911. 
hile forming a part of BARDELEBEN’s Handbuch der Anatomie des Menschen, 
the section “Plasma und Zelle’”’ is written from a remarkably broad stand- 
point, so that it is of general morphological and physiological interest. 
In the first part,? issued four years ago, after a general discussion of the 
cell theory, the structure of the nucleus and of central bodies is taken up in 
detail, followed by an extensive critique of granular theories of protoplasm. 
Two leading tendencies give direction to the treatment of the subject matter: 
on the one hand, an attempt to break down the monopoly of the cell as the 
morphological and physiological unit; and on the other hand, more or less 
closely connected with this, an attempt to bring evidence for the existence of 
metamicroscopical units of structure, the protomeres. In this the author does 
not: move in the realm of pure speculation, but is throughout concerned with 
arriving at conclusions establishing the existence and illuminating the nature 
of the metamicroscopical protomeres from a consideration of the organization 
and behavior of micro- and macroscopical structures. It is difficult to give in 
brief an adequate account of the materials and line of argument employed, 
and the reader is necessarily referred to the original. 
The second part begins with a detailed treatment of the structure of the 
striated muscle, bringing together in a lucid fashion the mass of facts which 
has accumulated regarding this most complicated cytoplasm, doubly interesting 
because of the evident relation here between structure and function. A survey 
of this section again directs our attention to the meagerness of the data, a 
voluminous literature on the subject notwithstanding, regarding the histo- 
genesis of the various structures of the muscle cell and its anomalous position 
with reference to information concerning the central body. It is the one con- 
spicuous animal cell type in which even the mere presence of central bodies 
has not been demonstrated. 
In discussing the relative solidity of various elements of the muscle cell, 
the author points out that the alternative solid or liquid does not put the 
question regarding the aggregate condition of cell constituents. He suggests 
* HEENHAIN, M., Plasma und Zelle. Zweite Lief. pp. vit+604. Jena: Gustav 
Fischer, 1911 
: , Plasma und Zelle. Erste Abt. pp. viiit-506. Jena: Gustav Fischer. 
1907. 
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