166 M. R. KING 



the surrounding tissuo was absent in all cases. Microscopical 

 examination fui'ther showed that many of the fasciculi are very 

 fiat and wide and lie with the broad surface ]:)arallel to the endo- 

 cardium so that a l)i-oad flat injected fasciculus looks to the 

 naked eye as if extravasation must have occured along its course 

 (fig. 15). An increase in width at the point of uniting or branch- 

 ing of the fasciculi was also noticed. The intercellular sub- 

 stance was stained in many places by the Prussian blue as in 

 the silver nitrate method. 



Inject 'ons into warm hearts with intravitam methylene blue 

 were also attempted for the purpose of demonstrating nerve 

 endings or fibers within the sheath. The solution used was 

 prepared according to Wilson's method. Since it was found 

 that the sheath would not retain the solution and that all the 

 surrounding territory was stained no satisfactory results were 

 obtained although an insufficient number of trials, was made 

 to justify any definite conclusions. It was noted in the sec- 

 tions examined that no fibers of any kind were found crossing 

 the space distended by the injections. Nerves distributed to 

 the bundle have been described but their fibers have been demon- 

 strated only within the general epifascicular sheath (Wilson '09) . 

 No endings terminating on the cells of the bundle have been 

 demonstrated. In order to supply the cells making up the fasci- 

 culi of the S.V.S. the nerve fibers would necessarily have to 

 pierce the perifascicular sheaths and cross the intervening space 

 but in none of the specimens examined was a single nerve fiber 

 found crossing this space. It would seem from this that the 

 S.V.S. receives its nervous connections from elsewhere than the 

 nerves in the surrounding sheaths. 



The above in\Tstigation was undertaken at the suggestion 

 and under the sujiei'vision of Dr. Meyer whom it is a pleasure 

 to thank for his assistance. 



Since the completion of my manuscript in December, 1914 

 the very interesting article by Aagaard and Hall in Anatomische 

 Hefte, Band 51, Heft 2, 1914 w^as brought to my attention. 

 This number of the iTiagazine did not reach our library until 

 Febi'uai-y 10, 1915 and came to my attention some weeks later. 



