188 H. R. OCTAVIUS SANKET. 



off from the sides of larger ones, though more usually two 

 branches of equal size result from the division of one. 

 Dichotomous division prevails more as the fibres become 

 smaller. The branches, having thus become finer and finer, 

 are ultimately lost to view, or terminate in the remarkable 

 manner described by Dr. Obersteiner (op. cit.). 



In my preparations the union of the fibres with the 

 protoplasm of the cells, in the pure grey layer, is plain and 

 unmistakable, and resembles very closely the appearance 

 described by Dr. Obersteiner, though some differences may 

 be noted. I think it is probable that these are due to the 

 mode of preparation of the object, and I believe that my 

 method shows the structure to greater advantage than did 

 the process at his command. Certainly I am able to see the 

 structure, and the artist has been able to figure it much more 

 decisively than Dr. Obersteiner has ventured to show it. 

 (Fig. 2.) The fine fibres, on approaching the cells in which 

 they are about to end, are seen in my preparation to enlarge 

 and assume the character of the protoplasm of the cell, into 

 which they pass without line of demarcation. Dr. Ober- 

 steiner, however, in his drawing, depicts the cell as a round 

 ball, into which, in one sketch, a fine filament is seen to pass, 

 and only into its proximity in his other sketch. Probably 

 this appearance, as given by him, was due to the shrinking 

 of the tissue in the process of hardening, for most of the cells 

 seen in my preparations are not round, but, as Dr. Meynert 

 describes them, triangular or pastille-shaped. Again, there 

 is no clear space around the cell in my preparations, which 

 in Dr. Obersteiner's drawing appears so wide as to be nearly 

 equal to half of the diameter of the cell itself. 



These small cells are not only seen to be provided with a 

 process of union connecting them to the fibres in the manner 

 described, but also to give off" others, three or four in number, 

 which are short, but which divide and subdivide until they 

 are finally lost in the reticulo-molecular ground substance of 

 the part. The "processes of union," which are connected 

 with Purkinje's cells are usually directed toward that layer 

 of cells, but this is not an invariable arrangement. My 

 preparations corroborate Dr. Obersteiner's opinion that the 

 terminal branches of the processes are directly united to 

 cells, and that also side twigs are given off in a more or less 

 rectangular direction, which also join cells, each fibre making 

 for its cell a kind of stalk. I have, however, more frequently 

 observed the former kind of connection than the latter. 



With regard to the questions — are the processes invariably 

 connected with cells ? and are all the cells of similar character 



