254 Transactions of the 



is compound, and composed of numerous fibres wliicli never anastomose." 

 Again, in my Croonian Lecture, 1865, " Every fibre of this network is 

 compound; so that perhaps the term 'plexus' more truly describes the 

 arrangement."* My "previously-expressed opinions," therefore, do 

 not clash with my " new views," as Dr. Klein wishes his readers to 

 believe. Not only have I very distinctly stated that the fine nerve 

 fibres I described were composed of still finer fibres, but I have given 

 many figures of fine nerve fibres in many situations showing that they 

 were so, and have published a diagram to show what I believe to be 

 the arrangement, see figs. 399 and 400, 'How to Work with the 

 Microscope,' third edition. Neither do I " abandon" my " former 

 views," though I readily admit that "it is quite possible that there 

 may be still finer fibres than any that I have been able to demon- 

 strate." Dr. Klein's criticisms would be dissipated at once by reference 

 to many drawings piiblished by me during the last ten years. But 

 Dr. Klein brings forward a quotation from p. 332 of the fourth edition, 

 of ' How to Work with the Microscope,' and then remarks that I 

 now admit that the nerve fibres are " compound," that they are 

 " fibrillar," &c. Instead of commenting upon this, I will refer your 

 readers to the very same page from which Dr. Klein quotes, and to 

 the previous page, and to the plates illustrating my remarks, and ask 

 them if Dr. Klein is justified in asserting that I have withdrawn from 

 my previously-expressed opinions. 



10. Dr. Klein seems to consider that the " nucleus " belongs to 

 the " sheath," and asserts that the fibrillfc which come oif from a 

 non-medullated nerve fibre, either singly or in bundles, have absolutely 

 nothing to do with any nucleus whatever. This may be true as 

 applied to his own specimens, but it is absolutely incorrect as regards 

 mine. There are nuclei to be demonstrated in hosts of fine nerve 

 ramifications which come off from non-medullated fibres, and in every 

 tissue in which nerves ramify. 



11. There are other most positive assertions of Dr. Klein's 

 which might also be refuted by specimens. Dr. Klein says that he 

 has ascertained on one of my own preparations of the cornea that my 

 view " by no means agrees with the facts "! Thus it would appear 

 that in the course of less than a minute he had been able to discover 

 what I had failed to make out after examining the same specimen for 

 hours at different times during the last seven or eight years. How- 

 ever, one may feel content that one is not held up as a person perfectly 

 blind, or as a melancholy example of perverted visual sense. 



12. In England original observers in this department labour under 

 great disadvantages. We are very few in number, and our w'ork 

 excites comparatively little interest. We have to condense our 

 remarks into the smallest possible space, because English readers are 

 provoked by long and exliaustive dissertations. I have myself always 

 endeavoured to write briefly on anatomical questions, but to render 

 my drawings as careful and accurate as possible, and at the same 

 time to preserve the specimens from which the drawings have been 



* 'Proceedings R. S ,' 18G5, p. 237. 



