The röle of the chondriosomes in the cells of tke guinea-pig’s pancreas. 253 
chondria) or rod and thread like form (ekondriokonts) and which are not 
of the nature of centrosomes, nor derived from nuclear material or the 
spindle fibres. 
It is clear from their very nature, that the mitochondria and chon- 
driokonts are no new constituents of the eell-body, since granules and rod 
shaped structures in the cytoplasm, have beeil known for a very long time, 
and have been described under a variety of names. But it is only of recent 
years, that this large and heterogeneous assemblage of cytoplasmic com- 
ponents, has been rearranged and sorted out. 
To mention but a few of these structures, we may instance the granules 
of Altmann, the ergastoplasm, the rods described by Heidenhain in 
epithelial cells, the pseudochromosomes of the same observer, the chromidia 
and the Nebenkern of the seminal and the pancreas cells, all of which 
have contributed, by their variety in appearance and nomenclature, to 
the confusion of our ideas concerning these bodies. 
It is owing chiefly to the illuminating researehes of Meves and Dues- 
berg, that we are now in a position to unify our ideas as to the origin and 
function of the cytoplasmic bodies in question. 
Meves (1908) in his observations on the chondriosomes of the chick 
embryo, pointed out that even at a very early stage, every cell of the em- 
bryo contains a chondriosome occurring in the form of rods and granules, 
and later on Duesberg (1910) was able to trace their presence even up 
to the one cell stage of the fertilized ovum in the rabbit. 
Meves expressed the belief that the chondriosomes were the forma- 
tive substance out of which were manufactured a host of fibrillär struc- 
tures occurring in the tissues of the adult animal, and that the chondrio- 
some of the embryo was composed of both maternal and paternal elements, 
derived from the ovum and Spermatozoon, and thereby functioned as a 
cytoplasmic bearer of hereditary characters. Following on this, Meves 
(1907) was able to show that the filarmass of Flemming, and the neben- 
kern described in a number of different animals, were identical with the 
mitochondria and cliondriokonts. In conjunction with Samsonnow, he 
also established the identity of Altmann’s granules with mitochondria. 
Wkether the cytoplasmic substance, designated ergastoplasm by the 
French cvtologists, (Garnier, Bouin fr eres, Prenant, Regaud and others) 
can be included in the category of chondriosomes is still an unsettled 
point, as is also the case of the chromidia of Goldschmidt. If the ergasto- 
plasm is really only a temporary eomponent of the cell, arising de novo 
during certain phases of secretory activity, and again disappearing when 
those phases are at an end, then it is certain that it is not of the same 
17 * 
