Observations on the Golgi bodies in the living cell

The existence of the Golgi apparatus in the living cell has long been doubted, owing apparently to the failure of many cytologists to observe it. In a recent paper two of the authors (1) claimed to have observed it in the living, unstained spermatocytes and young oocytes ofHelix aspera . In the present communication it is hoped to demonstrate, beyond doubt, the visibility of the Golgi apparatusintra vitam . E. V. Cowdry, in his article in the “General Cytology” (2), states that it has not “been possible to stain it specifically with vital dyes, although many have been tried.” Further, although mentioning that Gatenby claims to have observed it in living cells of invertebrates, he makes no attempt to verify the observation. This is the more remarkable as the apparatus can easily be observed in the living unstained spermatocytes of Helix, and can be stained either with Janus green or by the same method followed by rapid treatment with iodine vapour according to the Lewis method. It can also be observed in fresh spermatocytes of Helix treated for a few seconds with osmic vapour from 2 per cent. solution. Its demonstration in fresh cells is thus on a par with that of the mitochondria. We find it difficult to understand how other observers have failed to distinguish it in the living cell. In the communication referred to (1) the authors have attempted to show that the Golgi apparatus of vertebrate and invertebrate material is strictly comparable. In the present paper we do not propose to resume this discussion, but will restrict ourselves to summarizing the reasons for our views. The evidence for the view that the two sets of structures are truly homologous falls into the following groups :—