Literary Notices. xli 



histology providing, as Edinger himself recognizes, for wonderfully com- 

 plicated coordinations, even did we not know of visual tracts to the 

 cortex, would suggest a greater diversity of function. We fail to un- 

 derstand why a connection between the homologue of the geniculatum 

 and the cortex is overlooked. 



The present work is well adapted to serve as a point of departure 

 for all subsequent comparative studies of the cerebrum. 



c. L. H. 



Modifications of Xervc Cells in Different Functional States.^ 



A brief historical introduction serves to throw into strong relief 

 the utter disagreement existing between the results of almost all of the 

 investigators who have thus far studied this question. The classical 

 experiments of Vas upon the cervical sympathetic ganglia were re- 

 peated in 1894 by Gustav Mann (cf. the review in Vol. V of this Jour- 

 nal, p. xxxii ) and again by Lugaro in the paper before us. The latter 

 author feels that he has removed many of the contradictions of the 

 previous investigators and explained the others. He calls attention to 

 the fact that the so-called resting cells of other authors are by no means 

 such but that to the fatigue of normal functioning before death 

 must be added the intense discharge accompanying their excision as well 

 as those changes occasioned by the action of the fixing reagent between 

 the time of immersion and the time of cellular death. Another source 

 of error is the subjective one arising from the difficulty of estimating 

 the relative sizes of the normal and fatigued cells when the sizes of both 

 sets vary within wide limits. The former difficulty was met by kill- 

 ing in various ways, particularly by comparing cells fixed by rapid ex- 

 cision and treatment with the fixing fluid with those taken several hours 

 after death from an animal killed by rapid chloroforming ; the latter diffi- 

 culty, by carefully counting all of the cells from many average fields 

 from each of the two sets of preparations. In each ganglion the long- 

 est diameter of 1000 elements was measured. 



The results of these observations are presented in the form of a 

 series of curves. Cells of ganglia taken from the body five hours after 

 death when compared with normal cells (taken from the body by vivi- 

 section) show a decrease in size 4.95%. Elements electrically excited 

 for a time which does not exceed a half hour show an increase in size 

 as compared with the normal. This increase is at the maximum of 



' Lugaro, E. Sulle Modificazioni delle Cellule nervose nei diversi Stati 

 funzionali. Lo Speritnentale , XLIX, 2, Aug., 1895. 



