29 



Bilt what seems to me to be more important than all this, as it 

 falls in with Ruffini's views, is (hat also the border-lines be- 

 tween the corpuscles and the "free" endings are gradually falling 

 away. Here the only differential diagnostic is whether or not a 

 capsule is present. The saine characteristics of the nerve-fibers, of 

 the supporting tissue, "tacfile-cells" or whatever name may be 

 given to the cells found in the endorgans are equally peculiar to 

 either group of end-organs. This may be gathered from the illus- 

 trations and the descriptions in all papers. Botkzat makes pai'ticular 

 mention of this, adding that a capsule round a nerve-ending is not 

 a question of vital importance for it, either functionally or morpho- 

 logically. On the contrary Botkzat very often tinds by the side of 

 a capsuled ending its fellow deprived of a capsule. Thus the free 

 "Knauel" are found side by side with the capsuled ' Knauel" and 

 the bulbs of Krause; side by side with Mf.rket/s cells Grandry's 

 and Meissnk.r's corpuscles etc. Moreover Botezat distinguishes all 

 sorts of gradations between the free and the capsuled endings. 



In other authors we find the same again. Ruffini's corpuscles 

 are according to Vitali ') nothing else but capsuled "alberelli". 



DoGiEL ^) also speaks of non-capsuled corpuscles of Ruffini. 

 Sfameni ') asserts that non-capsuled varieties occur of the same 

 Genital corpuscles, which, as has been observed, are allied to all 

 sorts of tactile-corpuscles. Of Mrissner's corpuscles there seems to 

 exist a large variety of simple modifications. 



Sfameni describes intermediate forms between Metssner's corpuscles 

 and "fiochetti papillare" i. e. free endings. Dogiet.'s modifications of 

 Mrissner's corpuscles (Ruffini calls them Dogiet/s corpuscles) are 

 non-capsuled at the upper-pole from which the axis-cylinders are 

 branching off into free endings. They are types of Ruffini's "espan- 

 sioni misti". Other modifications again of Mkissner's corpuscles 

 (DoGiEL, V. D. Vei.dk) are characterised by their having a slightly 

 developed capsule and a simplified nervecourse. Dogiel's "einge- 

 kapselte Knauel" described by him in 1903 as modified Meissner's 

 corpuscles must therefore be closely allied to the free endings, 

 perhaps identical with them (see supra). It seems, fhen, that Meissner's 

 corpuscles are, in a higher degree than many other forms, closely 

 allied to free nerve-endings. So when observing the several findings 

 concerning the capsule of these corpuscles, we shall see that Lan- 



1) Int. Mon. XXXI. 1915. 



2) Arch. f. Micr. Anat. 1903. 



3) I.e. 



