LriBRARY Notices. ix 



the opposite side, though some impulses are indirectly transmitted to the 

 root of the same side. 



On excitement of the lateral column, impulses are indirectly trans- 

 mitted to the mixed nerve of the same side as that of the excited column. 



There is a complete obstruction to all centripetal impulses which 

 may reach the cord by the central end of the anterior root. 



Whenever a spinal centre discharges, nerve impulses pass from it 

 down the posterior roots as well as the anterior. [ If this be substantiated 

 we have an important suggestion as to a possible irifluence of activity of 

 the body upon its growth — trophic problem. — Ed.] 



The volume will doubtless prove a stimulus to further investigation 

 in this promising field. 



Some Recent Results of Goi.gi's Method of Silvek-Chkome 

 Impregnation. 



In accordance with an earlier promise, a brief account of this cele- 

 brated method is introduced as preliminary to our own observations. 



On the 25th of January, 1842, a savant justly celebrated for his epoch- 

 making studies upon the structure of the nervous central organs succeeded 

 in making thin sections with a scalpel from a bit of spinal cord which had 

 been frozen at a temperature of 13° R. Says Stilling, "When I first placed 

 the section under the microscope, and viewed, with a power of 15 diam- 

 eters, the beautiful transverse striations (central nerve traclsj, I had 

 found the key which would reveal the mysteries of the wonderful structure 

 of the spinal cord. Archimedes himself did not cry 'Eureka!' with more 

 enthusiasm than I did at the first sight of these fibres." l 



But, as Van Gehuchten well says, " Malheureusement, la clef trouvee 

 par Stilling n'ouvrait que le vestibule el, pendant cinquante annees, nous 

 avons du faire antichambre." - 



It is perhaps too early to admit with the author just quoted that 

 Golgi's method is almost perfection, that "c'est un veritable passepartout 

 qui nous ouvrira toutes les pones", but it certainly affords a means of 

 isolating certain (or unfortunately at present, uncertain) elements in the 

 central organ with the most diagramatic distinctness. 



1. See Edinuer, Lectures nil the Central Nervous System, 1H89, p. H. 



2. Ees Decouvertes Kecentes dans I'Anatoiuie et I'Histologie du Svstenie 

 Nerveux Central. Brussels, IHDl. 



