Cell Changes in the Testis due to X Rays. 
247 
hollowed into spaces, filled with chromatic debris, subsequently becoming 
completely empty. 
In tbeir third communication Bergonie and Tribondeau describe 
a further series of experiments in which they examined the action of 
X rays upon human semen preserved under a coverslip and kept at 39° C, 
rays being employed whose intensity corresponded to six units on the 
scale of Holzknecht. The spermatozca were placed at a distance of 
15 cm from the anticathode. The motility of the spermatozoa was how- 
ever unaltered even after 30 minutes exposure. 
In their fourth research Bergonie and Tribondeau, who subse- 
quently were able to obtain aspermatogenesis as a result of a single ex- 
posure to the action of X rays, submitted a series of young male wdiite 
rats to such rays for one hour (twelve applications at the rate of three 
per week ; distance of anticathode from the skin 15 cm). A month after 
the last exposure to X rays the testes on macroscopic examination pre- 
sented translucence of the surface layer, due to partial dissolution of the 
parenchyma. On microscopic examination the volume of the tubules 
was diminished, many tubules were full and hypertrophy of the inter- 
stitial substance had occurred. Xo mitoses were seen, but persistence 
of the cells of Sertoli was observed. At the end of two to three months 
the peripheral semiliquid layer of the testes just described had disappeared, 
the testes were smaller and lighter, markedly reddened and softened, 
and microscopically were in the same condition at the end of one month. 
The tubules were small and often full. The interstitial substance was 
thickened. The seminal epithelium had remained aspermatogenous; only 
the nuclei of the cells of Sertoli were visible. The latter were voluminous, 
clear and rounded at the base of the epithelial layer ; they became smaller, 
diffusely stained and angular as they receded from the basement mem- 
brane of the tubule. Their number was considerable, in places they were 
disposed in rows. They presented very frequently linear folds (incisures 
rectilignes). They became destroyed chiefly bv pycnosis. They were 
everywhere embedded in protoplasm, the limits of which were not well 
defined, the edges of the cytoplasm being ragged. The walls of the blood 
vessels, which were congested, were markedly thickened. These changes 
the authors believe to be definitive, that is to say, they regard asperma- 
togenesis produced experimentally in this form as being incapable of 
recovery. They further conclude that these experiments throw a new 
light upon the functions of the cells of Sertoli. The latter cells can be 
isolated by the action of X rays, preserving their integrity and continuing 
to produce their fatty secretion. The authors conclude: 1. that the cells 
