AUTHOR’S ABSTRACT OF THIS PAPER ISSUED 
BY THE BIBLIOGRAPHIC SERVICE, SEPTEMBER 13 
THE RESULTS OF CUTTING THE SEVENTH CRANIAL 
NERVE IN AMIURUS NEBULOSUS (LESUEUR)! 
J. M. D. OLMSTED 
FOUR PLATES (TWENTY-SIX FIGURES) 
HISTORICAL 
The study of the effects of nerve cutting, such as the classic 
experiments of Waller (’52), proved early in the history of physi- 
ology to be one of the most fruitful methods of investigation. 
Vintschgau und H6éningschmied (’76) found that when they 
severed the glossopharyngeal nerve on one side of a dog’s head, 
the taste buds on the corresponding side of the tongue disap- 
peared, while those on the other side remained intact. This 
phenomenon was later investigated more thoroughly by Vintsch- 
gau (’80). According to his results, forty-eight hours after 
operation the so-called ‘cover cells’ became swollen and filled 
with granules which stained light gray with osmic acid. The 
contour of the taste bud disappeared a few days later, and finally 
in place of the taste bud there came irregularly placed epithelial 
cells. Vintschgau thought he had evidence that the ‘cover cells’ 
metamorphosed into ordinary epithelial cells, but he was able 
to see only one cell actually undergoing this process. By the 
seventh day nearly all the taste buds had disappeared, though 
a few persisted for even a month after the operation. Drasch 
(87) repeated this experiment with like result. Ranvier (’88) 
described in a foot-note in his “Traité Technique d’Histologie”’ 
the result of cutting the ninth nerve in the rabbit. Forty-eight 
hours following the operation profound modifications set in, 
which led to complete disappearance of the taste buds after 
forty days. But, unlike Vintschgau, he found that the sense 
1 Contributions from the Zodlogical Laboratory of the Museum of Comparative 
Zodlogy at Harvard College, no. 324. 
369 
