42 HENDRY, ON THE NERVE-CELLS IN THE OX. 
and hence have been designated, wnipolar, bipolar, or multi- 
polar cells. The processes in question are described as anas- 
tomosing filaments, or as branches connecting one cell with 
another, or as continuous with the peripheral nerve-fibres. 
In some cases, again, they appear to have free terminations in 
the surrounding tissues. But these are questions upon which 
all observers are not satisfactorily agreed; nor is this a matter 
of surprise when we consider the extremely minute portions 
subjected to microscopical examination, the necessary pre- 
liminary preparation required, and the unavoidable disturb- 
ance of parts, all tending to interfere with if not wholly to 
destroy the normal arrangement of such delicate structures. 
Nevertheless, keen research, multiplied observations, and 
careful description of what is seen, may eventually lead to a 
more perfect knowledge of the distribution of those parts 
wherein at present some ambiguity may exist. 
It is no easy matter, under most circumstances, correctly to 
determine the question of the attachments of the processes 
just referred to, some lying above and others below the cells, 
whilst others, again, abruptly terminate short of, or apparently 
extend beyond them ; some of these appearances seeming to 
be produced by the rough usage employed to bring the objects 
properly into view. And in many instances in which we 
might feel inclined to believe in the union or continuity of 
the processes with nerve-filaments, or with other processes of 
the same kind, the employment of higher magnifying powers 
(1 inch) will in some cases resolve these connecting filaments 
into capillaries, which are so distributed and so completely 
encircle the cells, that but for the characteristic nuclei in the 
walls of the capillary vessels, very incorrect inferences might 
be entertained as to their true nature. From careful and re- 
peated observation, however, my own conviction is, that 
anastomoses do exist between one cell and another, and that 
the processes do likewise become connected or continuous 
with nerve-fibres, and that free terminations are also to be 
met with, although it is not improbable that the latter may 
be produced in consequence of the manipulation to which the 
parts are subjected. 
The nucleated vessels I have observed in the spinal cord of 
the ox, in close apposition with the nerve-cells, have a 
diameter of -,!,,th, ~),,th, and z,,th of an imch, whilst 
the nuclei in their walls are about =,” in length, and 
are of a roundish or oval shape, with a breadth of -25,°', or 
equal in some cases to that of the vessel itself. Vessels un- 
doubtedly exist below and above these measurements, but the 
extremes are not now sought for. The nerve-filaments 
