Chondriosomes {Mitochondria and their Significance. 99 
Animal Chromidia. 
In 1909, Goldschmidt, who had previously (1904) described for 
various tissues in Ascaris what he termed the “chromidialapparatus,” 
sought to bring his observations on chromidial bodies into line with 
the work o( Benda and Meves. The term chromidia was introduced 
by Hertwig (1902) 1 who found that in Act'inospluzriiim Eichhomii the 
protoplasm contained, in addition to the numerous nuclei, a large 
number of scattered and extremely small bodies which he likened 
to minute Amoebae and which were stained with carmine in exactly 
the same manner as the nuclei. These bodies increased in number 
when the organism was either overfed or on the other hand starved 
and they then often became aggregated into clumps that were 
eventually expelled from the cell. According to Hertwig these 
chromidia arise from the chromatin of the nucleus and are in fact 
simply extruded portions of this substance. Goldschmidt found 
that chromidia occurred in the cells of the most diverse animal 
tissues but particularly in young or actively growing and functioning 
cells, were frequently arranged in filaments and in other ways, and 
were not only deeply staining bodies but often actually took up 
chromatin stains more intensely than the nucleus itself. He extended 
Hertwig’s term chromidia to cover “ alle jene Zellstrukturen wie 
Mitochondrien, Pseudochromosomen, Trophospongien, Dotterkern, 
Nebenkern, apparato reticulare, als ein und dieselbe Einrichtung 
lebhaft funktionierender Zellen.” For the various forms of this 
“ chromidial apparatus ” he suggested the terms chromidia, chro¬ 
midial filaments, chromidial bodies, chromidial net, etc., and he 
came to the conclusion that all active metabolic and other changes 
in the animal cell are inaugurated by the extrusion of nuclear 
chromatin into the cytoplasm, where—either directly through 
chemical change or indirectly by providing energy set free by its 
decomposition—it assists in bringing about various metabolic and 
formative processes. 
General Characters of Animal Chondriosomes 
and Chromidia. 
To summarise the foregoing condensed and very incomplete, 
though perhaps for our purpose adequate, account of the zoological 
literature of our subject, it has been claimed that the granular or 
1 Chromidia appear to have been noted first by Schaudinn in Foraminifera, 
but their significance was first fully recognised and generalised by Hertwig. 
Until the appearance of Goldschmidt’s paper (1904) they appear to have been 
observed only in the Protozoa, and are described and figured in various works 
dealing with this group— e.g., Lankester’s “ Treatise on Zoology,” Part I, 
Fasc. 1 and 2 ; “ Cambridge Natural History,” vol. 1. They occur in many 
Sarcodina and some Sporozoa, and are described as being given off as small 
fragments from the nucleus, or the latter may be resolved into chromidia, and 
by their growth and coalescence they may form new nuclei. In a recent 
paper on the chromidia of the Protozoa, Swarczewsky (1912) draws a sharp 
distinction between the “ gametochromidia ” of the parasitic Protozoa which 
provide material for the formation of sexual nuclei, and chromidia which do 
not so function. On the other hand, Faur6-Fremiet (1910) has described the 
occurrence in many Protozoa and Flagellata of bodies which do not arise from 
the nucleus and which agree with the chondriosomes of higher animals in form 
and general behaviour, dividing simultaneously with the division of the organism 
itself ; in various Ciliata the chrondriosomes are arranged close to the periphery 
of the body and are evidently related in some way to the cilia. 
