288 Cc. U. ARIENS KAPPERS 
Just as we saw that with the dendrites of one cell the question 
is different (see above), we also see that dendritic outgrowths 
of more cells rarely fasciculate in a bundle. The latter would 
be only the case if only one stimulation center attracted them 
all, which rarely happens. 
As far as concerns the neurites, I will discuss below still another 
point in which it seems to be indicated that conditions which 
hold good for one neurite may also hold good for a collection of 
neurites, for a bundle. 
I will not leave, however, the question o' interneuronal con- 
nection without emphasizing that the greater conductivity of 
the axis-cylinder (based on much more K and Cl) in comparison 
with the dendrites, gives a peculiar character to the shifting 
of the nerve cell in the direction of the center of stimulation. 
This shifting causes a shortening of the dendritic path and a 
lengthening of the axonic path for the nervous current and 
consequently a diminution of the resistance, or if this expression 
be less happy, an improvement in the conductivity. 
It seems probable that the retardation which the nerve cur- 
rent experiences in the synapse is diminished by this process. 
Very interesting in this connection is Mauthner’s cell in fishes, 
where the transmission of the afferent current takes place in 
part on the axon cap itself (Bartelmez**), and where probably 
the least resistant synapse is formed. . 
Similar facilitation of the transmission of the current may be 
seen in other structures concerned with equilibrium, e.g., in the 
basket cells of the cerebellar cortex where, as Oudendal,*? among 
others, has shown, fibrillae of the basket are continuous with 
the fibrillae in the bodies of Purkinje’s cells. 
Since the shortening contraction of the dendrites in such 
cases as the descent of the facialis nucleus in mammals is ac- 
companied by a lengthening (extension) of the axis-cylinder 
(fig. 5), we may ask whether there is not an analogy of this process 
‘6 Bartelmez, G. W. Mauthner’s cell and the nucleus motorius tegmenti. 
Jour. Comp. Neur., vol. 25, pp. 87-128, 1915. 
‘7 QOudendal. Ueber den Zusammenhang der Auslaufer der Korbzellen mit den 
Zellen von Purkinje in der Rinde des Kleinhirns. Psychiatrische en Neurologische 
Bladen, Amsterdam, 1912. 
