A definite answer to this is given in a detailed experimental work
recently published by Fischel. It corroborates what Wolff had already
found, that the substance of the new lens develops from cells which
cover the posterior surface of the iris, that is, from cells of the
retinal layer of the eye. First, the margin of the pupil begins to
react to the stimulus of the injury (extraction of the lens); its cells
enlarge, become clear, while previously they were filled with dark
pigment, and finally they proliferate. They thus form a cell-vesicle
similar to the ectoderm-vesicle from which the lens arises in the
embryo, and into this the already mentioned retina-cells from the
posterior wall of the iris grow, elongate, and arrange themselves to
form the so-called 'lens-fibres,' on whose form, arrangement, and
transparency the function of the lens depends. This is marvellous
enough, but not more marvellous than that a whole foot should grow
on the cut stump of a newt's leg, or that a whole eye should arise
from a residual fragment. Here, again, we do not know the processes
which cause the arrangement of the cells and their often manifold
locally-conditioned differentiations, in short, we do not know the
_essential nature of regeneration_. But, in the meantime, we can
endeavour to find out which cell-groups regeneration is bound up with
in particular cases, so as to know where the vital particles, the
'determinants,' which condition regeneration, are placed by nature.
[Illustration: FIG. 99. Regeneration of the lens in the Newt's eye.
_A_, section through the iris (_J_); from its margin and posterior
(retinal) surface the primordium of a new lens (_L_) has developed
after the artificial removal of the old one. _B_, section through the
eye after duplicated regeneration of the lens (_L_) from two areas of
the iris. _Gl_, vitreous humour. _J_, iris. _C_, cornea. _R_, retina.
After Fischel.]
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