

1862.] 137 



the axis-cylinder of the nerve, perforates the sarcolemma and termi- 

 nates in free extremities beneath. In connexion with these pale fibres 

 he described special organs of an oval form and containing a nucleus. 

 In the Croonian Lecture for the present year, Professor Kolliker stated 

 that he had failed to demonstrate the peculiar organs described by 

 Kuhne, that Kiihne's pale fibres are outside the sarcolemma, and that 

 the nerves terminate in free ends, the sheath of the nerve being con- 

 tinued for some distance over the pale fibre *. He also described some 

 nerve-fibres, which for the most part ramify over the surface of the 

 muscle. These he regarded as sensitive fibres. Kolliker and 

 Kuhne agree that the muscle receives but a small supply of nerves, 

 that their supply is limited to one part of the muscle, and that a 

 comparatively very small portion of each elementary fibre is brought 

 into relation with the nerves at all. The author's conclusions are 

 quite at variance with these views. Although in many cases the fine 

 pale nerve-fibres could not be followed for any great distance from their 

 origin, in some instances this had been done. The pale fibres consist 

 of a bundle of very fine fibres, which divides and subdivides into 

 smaller bundles, and these, after being followed to the edge of the 

 muscular fibres, can often be traced a long way amongst the fibres 

 of connective tissue, and can sometimes even be followed to other 

 trunks. The author had seen many fibres less than the ^-o.VtFtjth ^ 

 an inch in diameter, which had been proved to consist of at least two 

 fibres. Many of the so-called connective tissue corpuscles, close to 

 the sarcolemma, are really the nuclei of very fine pale nerve-fibres, 

 which form, as in the mouse, networks on the surface of the muscular 

 fibre ; but the meshes are larger and the fibres much finer in the frog 

 than in the mammal or bird. 



The author showed that the distribution of the dark-bordered 

 fibres to many muscles of the frog is by no means so limited as 

 is generally supposed. The elementary fibres of the inferior 

 muscle of the eye of the frog are crossed by dark-bordered fibres 

 at intervals of the ^th of an inch. The author showed that what 

 appears to be the outline of a dark-bordered fibre near its peripheral 

 distribution, really consists of a finer nerve-fibre in many instances. 



* See Kolliker's ' Handbuch der Gewebelehre des Menschen.' Vierte Auflage, 

 1862, pp. 203, 286, 287, figs. Ill, 157, 158. Also the Croonian Lecture de- 

 livered May 1st, 1862. 



