3 8 Gardiner and I to. — On Mticilage-cells 
bright and pure azure of the normal methylene-blue stain. In 
the present instance the minute and brilliant droplets assume 
the clear azure colour, while the substance of the drop is of the 
dull murky purple to which we have already referred. We may 
pass on to other reactions of the mucilaginous secretion in 
the gland-cells. With iodine and chlorzinc-iodine (Schultze) it 
undergoes just the slightest blue coloration. With Hanstein’s 
reagent it stains reddish purple, and with picronigrocin steel- 
blue. When carefully treated with Hofmann’s blue it does 
not stain, and therein differs from the protoplasmic reticulum 
which colours well and becomes clearly demonstrated. With 
corallin-soda there is no conspicuous staining. The drops 
and droplets are but little affected by either hot or cold water 
beyond mere swelling, but they dissolve or rather become 
invisible in dilute potash, often leaving the protoplasmic 
reticulum exceedingly well defined. 
We are at present unable to state with any definiteness 
what is the exact nature of the bodies produced during the 
various stages of secretion, but from the above reactions we 
believe that in the mature and fully developed drop the 
ground- substance consists mainly of gummy mucilage, while 
the droplets themselves consist of pure gum. The reaction 
with iodine and chlorzinc-iodine seems to indicate that the 
mucilage is allied to certain forms produced by the hydration 
of cellulose-structures. Thus the protoplasm gives rise to 
some body producing a gummy mucilage, and the latter is 
further split up into a gum and a gum-mucilage residue. The 
reticulation which appears in the young drop, and precedes 
the formation of the droplets, is a phenomenon of great 
interest, and seems to indicate that the substance first pro- 
duced by the protoplasm is in a state of high organisation, if 
not actually living ; but this can only be settled by careful 
observation and elaborate experiment. At present we have 
no data which throw any further light upon the subject. 
With alcohol or with plasmolysing reagents the whole 
mucilaginous contents undergo great contraction but return to 
their normal bulk upon the careful addition of water. Plas- 
