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PROGRESS OF MICROSCOPICAL SCIENCE. 
then freezing it before making sections. A somewhat different view 
has been lately advanced by Boll. Boll describes the cells of con- 
nective tissue as granular, elastic, quadrilateral plates, which are 
arranged in rows and bend around the fasciculi of the tendon. Each 
plate has a median stripe, which he calls the elastic stripe, which is 
caused by a thickening of the cell substance parallel to the long axis 
of the tendon, and is stained deeply with carmine. It is evident that 
a row of cell plates will give a corresponding row of such stripes — 
that is, a continuous stripe ; and this elastic stripe will assume a 
straight or wavy appearance, varying with the condition of relaxation 
of the tendon. Dr. Mitchell Bruce followed Ranvier’s method, but 
gives a different interpretation of the appearances presented. Accept- 
ing the views of Boll on the relation of the cells to the fibrillar 
bundles, he describes fine lines crossing the fasciculi and dividing 
them into quadrilateral spaces, in the centre of which a nucleus comes 
into view on the addition of acetic acid; whilst, after a more pro- 
longed influence of this reagent, the fasciculi become considerably 
swollen and transparent, and the quadrilateral plates present irregular 
ragged borders. With nitrate of silver staining, an investment of 
cells, beneath which a system of serous canals appeared in some 
places, is brought into view. The cells are rendered still more dis- 
tinct by the chloride of gold method, or by a combination of the 
silver and gold methods. His view is that the cell elements in the 
young tendon are plates so arranged as to bend round the fibrillar 
bundles, and that they consist of granular protoplasm enclosing a 
nucleus. The cell plates are of nearly uniform size, and by their 
union form a connected whole, which may be aptly likened to a cloth 
composed of a number of stripes ; and the fibril bundles are so 
enveloped in this cloth that each is surrounded to the extent of half 
its circumference by one stripe. As we understand it, the continuous 
expansion pervading the tissue formed by the cells resembles a sheet 
of corrugated iron. If two such sheets were superimposed on one 
another longitudinal spaces would remain, and these in the tendon are 
occupied by the tendinous fasciculi . — The Lancet, September 7. 
The Degenerative Process in Nerves . — The last part of Virchow’s 
‘ Archiv ’ contains a paper by Dr. Benecke, of Konigsberg, under the 
title of “ Histological Processes in Divided Nerves.” His investi- 
gations, he says, have extended over many years ; and he has experi- 
mented upon cats, rabbits, crows, fowls, pigeons, and various small 
birds. Of all these he finds young cats the best adapted for research, 
as the nerve trunks in those animals contain very little connective 
tissue in their interior. The mode of operating consisted either in 
dividing the nerve with the knife, or in applying a fine silk ligature 
for a few moments, which is almost equally efficacious in cutting 
through the axis cylinders. The changes induced were examined at 
various intervals of time, ranging from two hours to six months, and 
both in the fresh state and after maceration in different preserving 
fluids. The first changes observed, and these take place within a few 
hours after section, are that the two extremities of the nerve adjoining 
the cut become of a greyish or yellowish-red colour, cloudy aspect, 
