THE RETICULAR MATERIAL OF DEVELOPING BLOOD CELLS

Erythroblasts, leucocytes, and lymphocytes resemble other cells of the body in containing a restricted area of fluidity in their cytoplasm. In special preparations this fluid appears in the form of a more or less complicated reticulum which seems to be continually but slowly changing in shape. For convenience the fluid may provisionally be referred to as reticular material, emphasis being laid on its composition rather than its form. As a working hypothesis it is safe to assume that the chemical and physical properties of this material vary in cells of different kinds as well as in different stages in the activity of the same cell. The conclusion that it is "identical" in different cells, because the present crude methods of technique reveal no fundamental differences, would be as incorrect as the statement that the serum of different animals is identical, because no difference is observed on microscopic examination.