282 MANUAL OF HISTOLOGY. 



not agreed as to the mode of termination of the nerve, and 

 some have maintained that it has not been clearly proven that 

 they really do terminate in the corpuscle. From specimens 

 which I have recently obtained I am led to believe that the 

 nerve does not terminate within the corpuscle, but passes on 

 into the rete Malpighii. 



The best corpuscles for studying this point are small ones, 

 as in these a section is more likely to include the entire upper 

 extremity of the corpuscle at the same time that it is not too 

 thick for examination with the microscope. Even in a small 

 corpuscle, however, unless the nerve passes onward in a direct 

 level with the corpuscle after leaving it, the nerve, in a vertical 

 section, will be cut across, and it will, therefore, be impossible 

 to follow it from the corpuscle into the rete. I believe the 

 nerve frequently, perhaps generally, changes the direction of 

 its course after leaving the corpuscle, and hence we often see 

 a transverse section of the nerve at the upper extremity of the 

 corpuscle. In Fig. 120 is seen the location of the termination 

 of the nerve-fibre as observed in one of my specimens. In 

 one place its course between the rete cells was very indistinct, 

 though recognizable. The nerve passed obliquely upward be- 

 tween the cells of the rete to the space between the second 

 and third rows of cells, where it assumed a longitudinal di- 

 rection. At the commencement of the curve the nerve ap- 

 peared to have undergone division (c). After passing a short 

 distance horizontally it ran almost perpendicularly downward, 

 and near g was lost to view. At e it appeared to have again 

 undergone division. According to the appearances here fig- 

 ured the corpuscles are not the structures in which the nerve 

 terminates, the latter passing from the corpuscle (as -a non- 

 medullated fibre) into the epidermis, where it divides and 

 probably terminates in the same manner as the other nerves. 

 This mode of termination cannot be regarded as strange, as we 

 have already seen that some medullated nerve-fibres lose their 

 medulla deeper in the corium, and afterward continue their 

 course as non-medullated fibres. 



The tactile corpuscles are found in greatest number in 

 the ends of the fingers. They are also present on other parts 

 of the hand and on the foot, and sometimes in the lips and 

 nipple. 



The sweat-glands. The sweat-glands glandulce sudorif- 



