TERMINATION OF NERVES IN GLANDS. 35 



BO satisfactorily in the involuntary as in the striated muscu- 

 lar system ; and as most, if not all of the fibres are derived 

 from the sympathetic system, which contains numerous 

 fibres of Remak the terminations of which have not been 

 described, it is evident that our information concerning this 

 part of the peripheral nervous system must be incomplete. 

 Perhaps the most remarkable of the late observations upon 

 this point are those of Dr. Frankenhaeuser, upon the nerves 

 of the uterus. These researches were very elaborate ; but 

 the point most interesting in this connection is that the 

 nerves, having formed a plexus in the connective tissue, send 

 exceedingly small fibres into the sheets or layers of muscu- 

 lar-fibre cells, which branch and finally go into the nucleoli 

 of these structures. 1 Arnold has confirmed these observa- 

 tions, and has shown farther that in many instances the fine 

 terminal nerve-fibres branch and go into the nuclei of the 

 muscular fibres, and then pass out to join with other fibres 

 and form a plexus. 8 



Termination of the Newes in Glands. The great in- 

 fluence which the nervous system exerts upon secretion at- 

 taches considerable interest to recent researches into the 

 ultimate distribution of the nerves in the glands. It must 

 be remembered, however, in these, as in all observations 

 upon the destination of the smallest nerve-fibres, that the 

 problem is one of the most difficult in the whole range of 

 minute anatomy ; and the results arrived at must be received 



1 FRAXKENHAEUSER, Die Nerven der Gebaermutter und ihre Endigung in den 

 glatten ITuskel-fasern, Jena, 1867, S. 76, Taf. viii. 



8 ARNOLD, in STRICKER, Manual of Human, and Comparative Histology, Lon- 

 don, 1870, vol. i., p. 195, et seg. The exact mode of termination of the nerves 

 in the organic muscles cannot be regarded as definitively settled. We have at- 

 tempted, however, to give what seem to be the most reliable views on this sub- 

 ject, deduced from recent observations. For a further discussion of some of 

 the points which we have accepted as probable, the reader is referred to a recent 

 article by Krause. (Die Nervenendigung in den glatten Muskelen. Archiv fur 

 Anatomic, Physiologic und wissenschaftliche Medicin, Leipzig, 1870, S. 1, et seg.) 



