Meyer, Rcviciv of Publications of BctJic and Nissl. 39 



at tlie subsequent subdivision of the dendrites without any 

 splitting up of individual fibrils. From the lont^ description of 

 the conditions in other cell types the following data are impor- 

 tant : 



1. Fibrils are present not only in the neurite, but in the 

 dendrites, passing through the cell-body from one dendrite to 

 the neurite or from one dendrite to another. 



2. Intracellular net-works as described by Apathy in in- 

 vertebrates are probably not present in vertebrates. At best 

 there is an occasional bifurcation of a fibril, the two branches 

 going into different dendrites. 



The origin or final distribution of the fibrils is not estab- 

 lished ; the fibrils are claimed as the unique 'conductors,' al- 

 though no experience with experiments on vertebrate material 

 is brought forth. 



Bethe (2) further reports the remarkable results of his stud- 

 ies on the nervous system of arthropods, and especially the in- 

 teresting fact that in Carcinus he was able to cut out the ' cells ' 

 of the motor fibers of the second antenna, without destroying 

 the neuropil connecting the receptory and the motor fibers, al- 

 though the operation severed the neuropil also from the brain and 

 from the abdominal ganglia. After twelve to twenty-four hours, 

 the tonus, reflex-irritability, and even the summation of stimuli, 

 could be demonstrated again ; the only obvious abnormality was 

 an exaggeration of reflex-irritability. On the third or fourth day 

 the phenomenon disappeared and the antenna became paralyzed 

 and remained so. On this result Bethe bases his view that the 

 nerve cells have merely trophic functions and are, perhaps, the 

 bearers of reflex inhibition. He uses the word ' nerve-cell ' in 

 the ' preneuronic ' sense, meaning by it merely the nucleus 

 with the surrounding protoplasm, but not the processes. 



Such a division is easy in the arthropods ; but in verte- 

 brates it would meet considerable difficulty. It would certainly 

 be necessary to remember that the ' cell body ' in arthropods 

 comprehends a much smaller part of the neurone (using this 

 word for what grows out of a cell-unit of the embryonic tissue) 

 than that of a vertebrate. This point is, of course, duly con- 



