160 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
oedematin. The author recognizes both and is likewise eclectic in regard 
to the plasma. 
Physiological Meaning of the Different Forms of Endothelial 
Cells.* * * § — Dr. G. Muscatello points out that the contour of endothelial 
cells in the vascular system and pleuroperitoneal cavity, which may be 
straight, sinuous, denticulate, or otherwise, varies in relation to the 
expansion or contraction of the organs. Klein has pointed out that the 
endothelial cells of the lymphatic capillaries vary in appearance in rela- 
tion to the contraction or dilatation of the tissues with which they are 
connected ; Muscatello has generalized this. Schwarz has also shown 
that the size of endothelial cells varies according to the state of the 
invested organ, but he has not noticed the margin. 
Attraction - spheres and Centrosomes.f — Dr. J. Eismond maintains, 
as the result of a critical investigation, that the attraction-spheres are 
not more than regions in the cell-substance, solely characterized by a 
relatively finer and f denser plasmic texture. They show no certain bio- 
chemical peculiarities nor morphological definiteness, and are excessively 
variable. They and their archiplasmic fibrils can be mimicked in 
Biitschli’s emulsion ; they represent inert centres of a dynamic system, 
or, more cautiously, they represent regions defined by their specific rela- 
tions to the rest of the cell-substance. 
Anatomy of the Nerve-centres. — Prof. J. Dejerine has, in collabo- 
ration with his wife Dr. Dejerine-Klumpke, published the first volume of 
a great work on the anatomy of the nerve-centres. The first part deals 
with methods, development, histogenesis, and general histology; the 
second with the macroscopic structure of the cerebrum, its topographical 
anatomy in horizontal, transverse, and sagittal sections, the histology of 
all the parts, the associational and commissural fibres, and so on. 
Genesis of Intestinal Epithelium.§ — M. E. de Eouville has been 
struck by the resemblance which may often be discovered between the 
epithelial elements of the digestive tube and the elements of the subjacent 
connective tissue ; Frenzel has indeed been already struck by this. In 
a large number of his preparations the author has been able to convince 
himself of the fact that the limit between the epithelium and the connec- 
tive tissue on which it lies is not always as distinct and well marked as 
one would think from the figures given by preceding writers. He has 
even observed the passage of the nuclei of the connective tissue above 
the epithelial cells, and their fall into the lumen of the intestine. This 
observation leads him to be inclined to regard the connective tissue not 
as being merely destined to bind together the different tissues, but as 
capable of playing an eminently active part — the role of formative tissue. 
Sabatier, indeed, has already said that “ the connective tissue continues 
more or less throughout life to be a matrix whence arise the elements of 
other tissues . . . it is a post-embryonic blastoderm. Epithelia are in 
many cases at any rate only the form which binds the free surface of 
connective tissue.” 
* Anat. Anzeig., x. (1894) pp. 173-6 (2 figs.). 
t Tom. cit., pp. 229-39, 262-72 (0 figs.). 
j ‘ Anatomie des centres nerveux,’ i., Paris, 8vo, 816 pp., 410 figs, and 45 col. ill. 
§ Comptes Kendus, cxx. (1895) pp. 50-2. 
