Cited by J.N. Langley, 'On the Changes in Serous Glands during Secretion', Journal of Physiology 2 (4) (1879), pp. 261-322.
Tags: osmic acid
Description:

Explanation of Plate VIII:

'Fig. 1. Sub-maxillary gland of rabbit. Fresh state. After a moderate amount of saliva from pilocarpin injection. The ductule- and transition-cells are darkly granular; the alveolar-cells shew an outer clear zone.

Fig. 2. Sub-maxillary gland of rabbit. Few hours after feeding. Osmic acid 1 per cent. acid, 2 1/2 hours, absolute alcohol 20 hours, mounted in dilute glycerine. The darker patches mark the transition- and ductule-cells.

Figs. 3, 4 and 5. Infra-orbital gland of rabbit. Treated with osmic acid and subsequently with alcohol. In figs. 4 and 5 the granules are rather too large; in the actual specimens, they appear more as darker spaces in a lighter network. In figs. 3 and 4 the nuclei are rather too prominent.

Fig. 5. Resting gland.

Fig. 4. Gland after moderate amount of secretion from pilocarpin.

Fig. 3. Gland after protracted secretion from pilocarpin, sympathetic also stimulated.

The actual appearance of the specimens cannot be very accurately represented by the lithographic process; the shaded portions of the figs. including the nuclei should be perfectly smooth and homogeneous.' (279-280)

 

Fig. 1 in text:

'Both in hunger and digestion, the appearance of this [sub-maxillary] gland [in the rabbit] in the fresh state is less constant than in the parotid... Nevertheless, as the result of many observations, I feel confident that the number of granules in the alveolar-cells diminishes during activity just as it does in the parotid. When the cells at the beginning of an experiment were granular throughout, a thinly granular periphery, or a non-granular outer zone, made its appearance, after continued secretion from pilocarpin injection, or sympathetic nerve stimulation; when the cells at the beginning of an experiment had an outer clear zone, the clear zone became larger. (P1. VIII. Fig. 1.) The alveolar-cell granules are less highly refractive and somewhat smaller than those of the parotid.' (269)

'The sub-maxillary has... one very characteristic point, the transition-, and at any rate some of the ductule-cells are crowded with granules much larger than those of the alveolar-cells (Pl. VIII. Fig. 1).' (270)

 

Fig. 2 in text:

'if, after two hours treatment with osmic acid, the gland is washed with dilute spirit or water and placed in alcohol about 75 per cent. for twenty-four hours and then sections cut, the appearances are markedly different; scattered about, are dark, deeply stained patches which at once catch the eye (Pl. VIII. Fig. 2); these are the transition-cells and ductules; there is now a much greater equality of staining between these and the ducts; the transition-cells may be somewhat lighter than the ducts and the ductules somewhat lighter than either, all being much darker than the alveolar cells. The nuclei of the alveolar-cells are much more conspicuous.' (271)

'Nussbaum [note: 'Arch. f. Mik. Anat., Bd. xvi. s. 543, 1879.'] suggests that the transition-cells which I describe are different from the darkly-stained cells described by him; a comparison of the figure 1 of his first communication with mine [note: 'op. cit.' ['Journal of Physiology, Vol. I. p. 69, 1878.']], and of the figure 1 of his second communication [note: 'Arch. f. Mik. Anat., Bd. xv. s. 119, 1878.'] with my fig. 2, Plate VIII., adjoined to this Paper will, I think, shew that we are dealing with the same cells.' (272-273)

 

Figs. 3-4 in text:

'During activity, the outer portion of each alveolus begins to stain evenly (Fig. 4), at first without much alteration in the nuclei or in the inner portions of the cells. Later, the nuclei become larger, spherical, and travel towards the centres of the cells; they are then much less distinct; as the outer zone encroaches on the inner zone, the network look of the latter becomes less and less apparent, so that it may be represented only as a few scattered dots (Fig,. 3). At the same time the lumen becomes more obvious and stretches out somewhat between the cells.' (275)

 

Fig. 5 in text:

'In the resting gland the alveoli are throughout unevenly stained (Fig. 5, Pl. VIII.). The nucleus is irregular, and lies in the peripheral portion of the cell. When looked at with a high power the network appears ligrht and the spaces dark, as if the network were the substance between the granules which are seen with a lower power; ordinarily the granules seen under a low power are described as being the nodal points of the network seen with a high power. At present, however, I am not prepared to discuss either this point or that of the relations of the granules normally seen with those visible after reagents.' (274)