TERMINATION OF NERVES IN THE LIVER. 453 



neighbourhood of the nucleus aud there end with the character- 

 istic bead-like swelling; but I could not prove to my own 

 satisfaction that they were other than prominently coloured 

 trabeculse of the cell reticulum. A view of a specimen such as 

 I have represented in fig. 2 lends itself easily to interpretation. 

 Here a fine nerve-fibril running along the side of the hepatic 

 cylinder gives a fine twig to each cell which reaches the vicinity 

 of the nucleus. Sometimes a twig divides after it enters the 

 cell, the divisions running to opposite sides of the nucleus. 

 The terminal points of all the intracellular twigs are delicate 

 beads. I was always compelled to believe that such twigs are 

 really within the cell when I found their terminal beads to be 

 on the same level as the nucleus in an optical view of the latter. 

 It is, of course, impossible in the greater number of cases to say 

 whether the fibrils which give rise to these intracellular twigs 

 belong to the perivascular or to the intercellular network. In 

 fig. 2 one finds great difficulty in determining to which network 

 the nerve-fibril belongs, but in several cases the demonstration 

 of the intercellular origin was quite distinct, and this has led 

 me to conclude that only the intercellular fibrils give off intra- 

 cellular twigs. 



The Nerves op the Liver in Necturus. 

 The hepatic cells in Necturus measure 0'042— 005 mm., 

 and consequently in a given area of a thin section the number 

 of cells is less correspondingly than in the human liver. From 

 this one would expect to find a less rich supply of nerve-fibres, 

 and results bear out this opinion. The nerve-fibres in the 

 interlobular canals are few in number, and each has a diameter 

 much narrower than that of the larger ones of the human liver; 

 their course is straighter till they enter the lobules, where they 

 pass along the capillary channels to their termination. The 

 small quantity of connective tissue in the interlobular canals 

 usually takes a deep violet stain and then appears homogeneous 

 aud structureless. In such a case I have not found it necessary 

 to remove the excess of the stain, for the nerve-fibres are clearly 

 outlined against the connective tissue. Apart from the larger 



