Literary Notices. xcv 



evidence of hemorrhage. Convulsions always accompany hemorrhage 

 in young persons. 



An interesting portion of the paper deals with results of cranio- 

 tomy for psychical improvement in idiocy. The results on some of 

 the cases are exceedingly promising. 



Current Views of the Structure of Olfsictory Organs and Taste-bulbs.^ 



{With Plate XIV, Figs. 6, 7, and S.) 



The application of Golgi's method to the peripheral nervous sys- 

 tem, especially to the sense-organs, has proven of late a very product- 

 ive field of investigation. The uncertainty formerly existing in the 

 minds of many investigators as to the exact nature of the termini of 

 the olfactory nerve in the nazal cavity and in Jacobson's organ seems 

 now to be quite satisfactorily removed. The concurrent testimony of 

 so skillful investigators as Cajal, Van Gehuchten, Lenhossdk, Brunn, 

 and Retzius, leaves but little doubt that the so-called olfactory cells of 

 the olfactory epithelium and of Jacobson's organ are real nerve cells 

 and that there is actual nervous continuity between the cilia at one pole 

 and the fibre of the olfactory nerve springing from the other pole of 

 these cells. In fact the relations here are very like those commonly 

 described for the organs of the lateral line of the lower vertebrates 

 and more recently for the skin of some of the worms. 



When we come to the nerve-termini in the taste-bulbs, the recent 

 authorities are by no means so harmonious. Whether the taste-cells 

 are really connected with the adjacent nerve-fibres may fairly be con- 

 sidered an open question, in spite of the recent striking results of 

 Retzius- and of Lenhossek.^ I quote from the latter paper: "The 

 results of Fusari and Panasci, so often quoted recently, that they [the 

 taste-cells] pass directly into nerve-fibres at the basal pole, are incor. 

 rect. On the contrary they all end obtusely. This is not a case then 

 of typical, well-developed nerve-cells, which give rise to peripheral 

 nerve-fibres, as is the case with the olfactory cells and the sensory 

 cells of the epidermis of Lumbricus, but of sensory epithelial cells 

 which are related to the nerve-fibres by contact only." 



In this author's preparations from the rabbit the nerve-termini are 

 of two kinds : i . Intergemmal fibres previously described (by Ser- 



^ Abstract by C. Judson Herrick. 



' Biologische Untersuchungen, N. F., Bd. IV and V. 



'Anat. Anzeiger, VIII, No. 4. 



