ABSTRACTS. 95

bacilli could no longer be found under the microscope. Blood withdrawn forty-eight hours after death showed numerous putrefactive bacilli, but no anthrax bacilli. The very beautiful violet and red tints seen, in fresh prepara­tions could not be discovered. Blood withdrawn sixty and ninety hours after death gave similar results. By using electric illumination and searching very carefully a slight shimmer of violet was detected at isolated points, but the appearances were not characteristic. '

As regards question 4, it was found that anthrax bacilli grown on agar only showed blue staining. Those, however, grown on blood serum-that is, on a medium in which even outside the animal body the bacilli formed cap­sules-hehaved quite otherwise. They showed the capsule as a reddish envelope surrounding the bacilli, and at certain points the red capsule alone could be detected.

This fact supports M'Fadyean's contention that the red is formed from the methylene-blue by the capsule of the bacillus. Methylene-blue is known to be one of the so-called metachromatic stains-t·.e., a chemically simple sub­stance which, however, stains different tissue elements of dIfferent tints. On long standing methylene-blue deposits small quantities of decomposition pro­ducts, and when cautiously heated with alkalies and sodas forms larger quantities. Bernthsen states that two substances are formed-viz., methylene­violet and methylene-azure. Methylene·blue which is rich in methylene­azure stains many tlasophile substances of a reddish tint, which can easily be detected by lamplight, a fact also noticeable in regard to anthrax prepara­tions stained with methylene-blue. Probably the capsule of the anthrax bacillus contains some material which has the property of separating methy­lene-azure from the methylene-blue, somewhat as ether and chloroform remove ,the methylene-azure from methylene-blue in a test tube.

The writer, in summing up his conclusions, entirely confirms M'Fadyean s statement regarding the production of violet and red in fresh anthrax material 'stained with 1 per cent. watery solution of methylene,blue.

On the other hand, however, the expectation that this appearance would prove of diagnostic value in cases where dead bodies bad long remained un­opened has not been fulfilled. In such cases plate cultivation still appears to be the most certain method of detecting existing anthrax germs (Schaffer. Zeitsclll'ijtj. Fleiscilu. Mtlcililygiene, March 1904, p. 176).

ON THE RECREMENTITIOUS SECRETIONS OF THE TESTICLE.

'SOME years ago, M. Pruneau ligatured the vas deferens in a large number of animals, like rabbits, guinea-pig~, and dogs, and communicated the result of his experiments to the Central Veterinary Society of Paris. He stated that he regarded the testicle as an exceptIOn to the physiological law under which the majority of glands undergo atrophy after the ligature of their excretory duct.

As, moreover, he considered that the spermatic liquid does not accumulate but is re-absorbed, he attempted to determine the influence of this re,absorption on the organism. To it he attributed the genital activity. Tbe latter was par­ticularly marked in all the animals operated on, which were much more vigorous and more ardent \ts regards females in heat than the control animals.

In reality this re-absorption of the spermatic liquid has never been proved. Although we are in possession of a multitude of facts proving the influence of the testicle on the entire organislP, there is not one which justifies us in refer­-ring this influence to a recrement1t1ous secretion.

In the opinion of MM. Ancel and Bouin the influence of the testicle on the organism is due not to recrementitious secretion, i.e., re,absorption of the spermatic liquid, but to a true internal secretion, the products of which are ,different from those elaborated by the seminal cells.

ABSTRACTS.

To begin with, does ligature or section of the vas deferens react in any way on the testicle? Does this organ really retain its morphological integrity after such an operation?

This question MM. Ancel and Bouin answer in the negative. They point out that In 1898 they made a study of this question, and found that, after a longer or shorter period, spermatozoa were no longer formed, and that later still the spermatocytes and the spermatogonia themselves disappeared. In the case of a guinea-pig this occupied about 100 days; but in that of the rabbit the time must be considerably extended.

These experiments led them to conclude that the whole of the sexual gland disappears after the excretory ducts have been occluded.

But, if one studies the organs more closely, one finds, between the semi­niferous tubes, a certain variety of cells which do not show any sign of degeneration under the above circumstances. They are the "interstitial" cells of the testicle, the function of which until now has remained obscure, and the great importance of which the two authors have sought to emphasise in a recent observation. They believe that it is owing to the special activity of these cells that all the results previously attributed to recrementitious secretion must be ascribed.

The morphological characters of the interstitial cells, their greater or less abundance in different species, their arrangement round the blood-vessels, their histological development, etc., have long been known. The two authors have recently shown that these cells possess all the characteristIcs of glandular celis, that they secrete actively, and that at least a portion of their secretion is poured into the blood-vessels and lymphatics.

The great majority of authors attribute to these interstitial cells a trophic action as regards the sexual elements, but in fact they appear to be quite independent of the seminal gland.

Apart from the morphological distinctions established by experiment and by the pathological conditIons above referred to, a great many other argu­ments may be advanced in favour of this view.

The two most important refer to the method of development of the internal cells in cases of ontogenesis of the testicle and in the testicles of cryptorchid animals. These cells become considerably developed, and are functionally active from the time when the genital tract is first differentiated. Their function is therefore developed very early (in pig embryos of 30 mm. in length), whilst the vas deferens is and for long remams in an embryonic condition, and is undergoing practically no developmental change. Nothing similar can be detected in the female. On the other hand, retained testicles show still more clearly the same morphological dissociation. In the great majority of cases the seminiferous tubules of these organs do not contain and never have contained the dIfferent cells from which spermatozoa are finally evolved, but the interstitial cells interposed between these sterile tubules, are quite normally developed in all cases. They have been evolved normally whilst growth of the seminiferous tubules has been arrested.

The above-mentioned facts led the authors to conclude that the interstitial cells together form a glandular organ which is relativt:ly independent of the process of forming spermatozoa, and which performs a useful f'unction.

They think this [uoeLton is extremely complex, and that from the earliest period of embryonic life it probably plays an important part in development and growth. They are also of opinion that the interstitial gland of the testicle performs among other physiological functions that of determining the secondary sexual characters of the male and the sexual instinct. They entirely reject the theory of the recrementitious function of the testicle (Ancel and Bouin. Receuil de MCd. Veterin., 15th January 1904, p. 78).

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