VOMERO-NASAL ORGAN 



97 



with correctness, that these fibers belonged to the olfac- 

 tory nerve (Fig. 24). These observations were confirmed 

 by all subsequent workers including von Lenhossek (1892) 

 in the rabbit, Retzius (1894) in the snake, Ramon y Cajal 

 (1895) in the rat, and Read (1908) in the kitten. 

 Retzius showed that in the snake those nerve-fibers that 

 were connected with the sense cells in the vomero- 

 nasal organ mingled with the bundle of fibers from the 

 olfactory region of 

 the nose and thus con- 

 firmed von Brunn's 

 suspicion that vo- 

 mero-nasalfiberswere 

 true olfactory fibers. 



Von Lenhossek 

 pointed out that at 

 least in the rabbit the 

 sense cells were not 

 limited to the thick- 

 ;ened face of the vo- 

 inero-nasal organ, as 

 had been maintained heretofore, but were found upon the 

 opposite tlu'n face of the organ as well This observation 

 was confirmed on the rat a few years later by Ramon y 

 Cajal. Hairlike terminations on the vomero-nasal sense 

 cells, such as those that had been found in the olfactory 

 cells, were sought for by a number of investigators 

 but only traces of these structures could be found (von 

 Brunn, Retzius, Read), probably because of the ease 

 with which they are Destroyed in the preparation of 

 the tissue. 



Von Lenhossek in 1892 not only confirmed von 



7 



FIG. 23. Transverse section of the nasal 

 septum of a young cat showing the vomero- 

 nasal organ (v), its.cartilage (c), and the nasal 

 cavity (n). 



