ANASTOMOSIS OF NERVE CELLS IN THE CENTRAL 

 NERVOUS SYSTEM OF VERTEBRATES.' 



By N. Worth Brown. 



With. Plate XXIII. 



In the Journal of Experimental Medicine, Vol. V, Nos. 

 5 and 6, there appeared an article by Martin Fischer upon anas- 

 tomosis between cells of the central nervous system, This 

 line of investigation being an interesting one and the existence 

 of anastomoses being so often denied, the attempt was made 

 in our own laboratory to demonstrate in lower vertebrates 

 the relations discovered by Fischer in mammals. Some very 

 satisfactory results were obtained and the returns rewarded us 

 for the labor expended. Anastomoses were found in sufficient 

 numbers to satisfy us that they were not mere accidents, that 

 each occurrence was more than a freak of nature and that this 

 type of connection bore some direct relation to the intricate 

 reflex activities of the nervous system. 



Preparations were made |by Nissl's method from the min- 

 now (Pimephales notatus Raf.), the cat, the mouse and the frog 

 and anastomoses were found in both medulla and spinal cord. 



Some difficulty was found at first in arriving at the correct 

 degree of differentiation. Sections which were excellent for 

 the study of the internal cell structures were too faintly stained 

 to enable one to follow, for any distance, the processes ; those 

 too darkly stained were quite as unserviceable since the precip- 

 itate of stain prevented the observer from discerning between 

 relations of mere contiguity and those of actual protoplasmic con- 

 tinuity. When correctly stained the internal structures could be 



• Studies from the Neurological Laboratory of Denison University, under 

 the Direction of C. Judson Herrick. No. XII. 



