TERMINATION OP NERVES IN TEE LIVER. 449 



usually separated from its neighbour by a narrow interspace 

 less in diameter than that of the bundle. The fibres when 

 seen in transverse section are round,, and possess nuclei which 

 are closely applied, sometimes at definite intervals. The fibres 

 are wavy in their course, and are clear and homogeneous. They 

 branch frequently, the branches being of diminished size, 

 round, and lacking the nuclei of the larger trunks. They 

 appear in no way to be related to or derived from connective- 

 tissue corpuscles, they do not anastomose with one another, 

 and they nearly always have a parallel direction, decreasing in 

 size as they pass into the smaller divisions of the interlobular 

 canal, where their arrangement in bundles is not so common. 



The violet colour of the fibres render them remarkably 

 distinct in contrast with the rose-violet connective tissue in 

 which they lie scattered. Sometimes, however, the connective 

 tissue is not coloured at all, but comes out as a granulo- 

 fibrillar appearance which is apt to be overlooked in the 

 presence of the deeply coloured fibres. In these cases the 

 bundles are separated by the granulo-fibrillar substances which 

 penetrates much less prominently between the individual 

 fibres. 



Where connective tissue and nerve-fibres are coloured alike, 

 it is useful to differentiate between the two with the aid of a 

 weak solution of potassic cyanide. The section being placed 

 on the slide a drop or two of this reagent is added to it and 

 the decolouration watched with a moderately high power. 

 When the interlobular tissue is deprived of its colour to the 

 degree required the section is mounted in the usual way. 

 Under the high power one now finds only a portion of the 

 interlobular tissue retains its violet tint, and this portion is 

 composed of the fibres above referred to. This does not neces- 

 sarily show that the fibres so revealed are nerve-fibres, or 

 definitely distinguish them from those of connective tissue. 

 It, however, seems to agree with the experience of Cybulsky, 

 that in tissue stained with gold chloride, and subsequently 

 treated with potassic cyanide, the nerve-fibres retain their 

 colour longest. 



