The röle of the chondriosomes in the cells ot the guinea-pig’s pancreas. 259 
This is especially true of the ehondriosome in the pancreas, since a 
description of these structures, under the name of the Nebenkern, or para- 
nucleus, has for long formed a part of the literature dealing with the 
pancreatic cells. This name is a particularly unfortunate one for the reason 
that it was originally applied by Bütschli in 1871, to quite a different 
body, composed of mitochondria, in the spermatids of insects. It is also 
regrettable because the “Nebenkern” of the pancreatic cells is not as a 
rule a single discrete body, like that described by Bütschli, nor has it, 
as the name would suggest, any Connection with the nucleus. The first 
to describe it was Nussbaum (1881) in the pancreas of the Salamander, 
and a little later Gaule (1881) proved the presence of these bodies in the 
cells of different glands. 
Subsequently, the Nebenkern was the subject of investigation of 
numerous observers, whose speculations as to its origin and röle, were 
as diversified as numerous. In the light of our present knowledge, some 
of the views put forward must seem very fanciful. 
For instance, Ogata (1883) derived the Nebenkern from the nucleus. 
He believed that the production of the pancreatic secretion involved 
the degeneration of the nuclei of the alveolar cells, and that it was the 
röle of the Nebenkern, partly, to give rise to new nuclei, and partly to 
form the zymogen granules. 
An even more startling view was that brought forward by Steinhaus 
(1890). He considered that the rod like bodies of which the Nebenkem 
is composed, were parasites of some undetermined zoologic-al Status. 
It need hardly be said that the views of Ogata and Steinhaus 
have been generally abandoned, if indeed it can be said that they ever 
had any supporters, and I have recalled them only to indicate the chaotic 
condition into which the subject had been brought by the speculations 
of the earlier authors. Some observers, Ver Eecke (1895), Melissinos 
and Nicolaides (1889) have derived the Nebenkern from “plasmosomes” 
extruded from the nucleus, a view emphatically denied by others, such 
as Platner (1889) and Laguesse (1884). 
Eberth and Müller (1892) distinguished two forms of paranuclear 
bodies, namely, round even masses, and long threads. The latter, un- 
doubtedlv the chondriokonts, they beheved were only metamorphosed 
portions of the cytoplasmic reticulum, and they denied to either form 
any share in the formation of the secretory granules, or in the regenera- 
tion of the nuclei. 
Laguesse (1884 V) agrees with the authors just mentioned, in that 
he does not admit any direct participation of the Nebenkern in the forma- 
