130 ' KIYOYASU MAEUI 



ligations by means of his own technic and still adhered to the 

 contact theory. According to the Spanish author. Apathy's ele- 

 mentary grating ('Elementargitter') does not exist; the 'neuropil' 

 of the latter is not a three dimensional net-work, but is to be 

 regarded as a plexus composed of delicate processes of ganglion 

 cells. We should emphasize here that Retzius (26) could not 

 confirm the 'Elementargitter' even in Apathy's own prepara- 

 tions. In opposition to Bethe's hypothesis of the independence 

 and the individuality of the neurofibrils, Cajal claimed to have 

 observed a neurofibril reticulum in the nerve cells, which is said 

 to be especially clear at the surface of the cell and around the 

 nucleus. The Golgi net did not appear in his new preparations; 

 moreover, his study by the Bethe's technic showed him a direct 

 conjunction of the Golgi net with the 'Fiillnetz' of Bethe, which 

 the latter interpreted as a coagulation product. On the strength 

 of these facts Cajal came to the conclusion that the Golgi net is 

 nothing but an artificial .product formed by the precipitate from 

 the lymph in Obersteiner's pericellular space. He denied also the 

 transition of the axone-fibrils into the intracellular fibrils ; accord- 

 ing to him, the axones end on the surface of nerve cell in the 

 form of knobs, and there exists always a thin layer of protoplasm, 

 which is free from neurofibrils at the edge of the cell between the 

 knobs and the intracellular neurofibrils. He considered this fact 

 as a new argument of the contact theory. Held's (19, 20) ob- 

 servations by Cajal' s method, however, brought to light two 

 different things, namely, the reticular fibrillous structure of the 

 knobs themselves and the continuity between the axone-fibrils 

 and the fibril net-work of the ganglion cell. Holmgren (22) 

 confirmed these findings of Held. Cajal (13) also figured later 

 the reticular structure of the knobs. 



By means of his method, Bielschowsky (8, 9, 10) reached a 

 conclusion similar to that of Bethe; in the greater majority of 

 cell types he could confirm Bethe's description of the isolated 

 course of neurofibrils. In the other types, however, he demon- 

 strated clearly a net-structure of the fibrils, which Bethe also ad- 

 mitted in some types of the nerve cells. Bielschowsky could not 



