Literary Notices. iii 



Ilistribution of the Cardiac tianglia.' 



The method used by Schwartz was to cut the heart of a small 

 mammal in serial sections in three planes — frontal, sagittal and trans- 

 verse — and to stain the sections in thionin or in tholuidin blue. Every 

 fifth section was stained and mounted and other sections, if thought 

 necessary. Cross-sections were found most suitable for locating the 

 ganglia. 



His results may be summarized as follows : 



No ganglion cells are found in the ventricle until the sulcus trans- 

 versus is reached. The ganglion cells, which are arranged in 4 or 5 

 relatively large groups, between which smaller groups are found, are 

 located on the posterior wall of the auricles, more to the left than to 

 the right of the auricular septum, and under the visceral pericardium. 

 This ganglionic area is bounded laterally by the auricular appendages, 

 and below by the sulcus trans versus. 



Schwartz finds in the ventricles and auricles, irregular cells, often 

 grouped, which contain granules which stain in the reagents used by 

 him. It is suggested by him that these cells may have been described 

 as ganglion cells by writers who have found ganglion cells in the ven- 

 tricles. They were looked upon as " Mastzellen," 



G. c. H. 



Structure of (jtanglion Cells of Birdw.^ 



The observations were made on material obtained from pigeons 

 and chickens. Of the several fixing and hardening fluids employed, 

 Carnoy's and Zenker's fluids proved most satisfactory. For staining 

 the tigroid substance in the nerve cells, toluidin blau and erythrosin 

 (Lenhossek) were used ; for the ground substance, iron-haematoxylin 

 (Heidenhain) and erythrosin or Blue de Lyon and saffranin (Mann) ; 

 for nuclear structure, Ehrlicli-Biondi or methyl green-eosin-acidfuchsin. 



Spinal and sympathetic ganglia of birds possess a relatively thin 

 capsule and a small amount of interstitial connective tissue. One or 

 several lymph nodules were found in every spinal ganglion. 



The size of the spinal ganglion cells varies from 40 « to 8-10//, 

 they are surrounded by a capsule which becomes continuous with the 



' S. Schwartz. Ueber die Lage der Ganylienzellen im Herzen der Siluge- 

 thiere. Arch, f, Mik. Anat., Vol. LIII, No. i. 



'•' Dr. D. Timofeew. Beobachtungen iiber den Bau der Nervenzellen der 

 Spinalganglien und des Sympathicus beim Vogel. Internat. Menatsch. f. Anat. 

 und Physiol. Vol. XV, No. 9-10. 



