220 Journal of Comparative Neurology. 



Addendum. Since the completion of the manuscript for 

 the foregoing contribution there have appeared a number of ar- 

 ticles on the subject of the muscle-spindle. These may here 

 receive brief mention. The first to be considered is one by 

 Batten. His observations pertain largely to muscle-spindles 

 found in man. The material was hardened in Miiller's and 

 Marchi's fluids and stained in hematoxylin and eosin and after 

 Pal's and Sihler's methods. He has this to say of the ending 

 of the spindle-nerves : 



" The nerve-fibers terminate in various ways ; as a rule, the 

 large fiber which enters the equatorial region passes directly to 

 the muscle-fiber, and seems to lose itself in the nuclei of the 

 muscle-fiber above described ; some fine fibers pass between the 

 muscle-fibers and terminate in such an organ as is figured in 

 (Fig. 7) ; others seem to have a spiral form. Others again 

 form a fine plexus beneath or in the sheath of the spindle." In 

 Fig. 7, which is reproduced from a photograph, the ending is 

 only imperfectly shown, it would seem however to resemble the 

 flower-like ending of Ruffini. From this figure, as also from 

 Batten's description of the nerve-endings, we are led to believe 

 that the endings seen by him show only partially stained nerve- 

 endings, the methods used by him being therefore not so 

 reliable as the gold chloride method, much less the methylene- 

 blue method for staining the ultimate endings of the spindle- 

 nerves. 



The latter part of Batten's paper deals with the behavior 

 of the muscle-spindle in certain pathological conditions : infantile 

 paralysis, tabes, myopathy (Leyden's form), progressive muscu- 

 lar atrophy, peripheral neurites, injury to the brachial plexus, 

 after section of the sciatic in cats. 



Batten shows that •' in infantile paralysis the spindle re- 

 mains absolutely normal, although the surrounding tissue un- 

 dergoes complete atrophy. In tabes, he shows that certain 

 changes take place in the termination of the nerve, the general 

 structure of the spindle remaining normal. In progressive mus- 

 cular atrophy the spindle remains unaltered, and the same is 

 probably true with regard to peripheral neurites. Section or 



