34 THK XKKVOUS SVSTK.M AXU ITS < '< >\SKRVATI<JN 



rather than a place of contact impairs the suppo-ed 

 individuality of the units. A more important change 

 in our conceptions may have to he adopted if the observa- 

 tions of certain student- are confirmed. 



The statement that the axon of a nerve-fiber may 

 contain a number of fibrils, perhaps to be regarded as 

 independent carriers of impulses, will be recalled. It 

 is claimed that in some cases fibrils like these are to be 

 demonstrated within the perikarya and extending out 

 into the dendrites. The suggestion has, therefore, been 

 made that everything else in the nervous system is sub- 

 ordinate in importance to a continuous network, slender 



Fig. 7. To illustrate the conception of the neuropile which 

 subordinates the cells of the nervous system to a continuous net- 

 work of fibrils sometimes within and sometimes without the cell 

 boundaries. 



and intricate. This it is proposed to call the m nro/>il< . 

 A synapse, in the light of this interpretation, is merely 

 the place where fibrils pass from the sphere of influence 

 of one perikaryon to that of another (Fig. 7). 



The chief result of 1he<e recent discoveries will probably 

 be to lessen the prominence given to the perikarya in 

 descriptions of nervous activity and to emphasi/e the part 

 played by the fibrillar conductors. One interesting func- 

 tion of the perikarya remains undisputed. This is the 

 responsibility for the maintenance of normal nutrition 

 through all the processes of the neuron. No matter how 

 far an axon may stretch from the cell-body to which it 



