1865.] Distribution of Nerves to Striped Muscle. 243 



sparingly supplied with nerves a very long fibre receiving nervous supply 

 at one single point only I have been led to conclude that every muscular 

 fibre is crossed by very delicate nerve-fibres, frequently, and at short intervals, 

 the intervals varying much in different cases, but, I believe, never being of 

 greater extent than the intervals between the capillary vessels. 



My friend Kiihne, of Berlin, has probably published more papers upon 

 this vexed question than any other observer. He maintains that the nerve 

 always passes through the sarcolemma and comes into direct contact with 

 the contractile tissue*, or ends in protoplasmic matter which is in continuity 

 with the muscle. He has, however, from time to time been led to modify 

 his view very materially, as these figures, copied from his various memoirs 

 published between the years 1862 and 1864, will testify. In his memoir 

 published in 1862, he described minutely the structure of some very peculiar 

 organs, which he stated had been demonstrated by him in connexion with 

 the pale terminal intramuscular branches of the nerve-fibres. In more 

 recent memoirs he seems to have abandoned the idea of the existence of 

 those very peculiar bodies which he termed " Nerven-Endkuospen," and 

 with reason, since no other observer professes to have seen objects at all 

 resembling those figured by Kiihne. I should, however, state that the 

 observations of Kiihne have in the main been supported by Engelmann and 

 some other observers. 



In this Lecture I am unable to give even a brief account of the different 

 views now entertained by the numerous observers who have studied this 

 question ; but in these drawings some of the most important are represented. 

 A record of the opinions entertained by various writers will be found in 

 Kiihne's memoir, published in Virchow's 'Archiv,' vol. xxx. 1864; and I 

 append the titles of some of the most important communications which 

 have appeared since the publication of my first memoir : 



Kiihne. Note sur un nouvel organe du systeme nerveux. Comptes 

 Rendus, Feb. 1861. 



Kiihne. Ueber die peripherischen Endorgane der motorischen Nerven. 

 Leipzig, 1862. 



Theodor Margo. Ueber die Endigung der Nerven in der quergestreiften 

 Muskelsubstanz. Pest, 1862. 



Kolliker. Untersuchungen iiber die letzten Endigungen der Nerven. 

 1862. 



Rouget. Note sur la terminaison des nerfs moteurs dans les muscles 

 chez les reptiles, les oiseaux et les mammiferes. Comptes Rendus, Sept. 

 20th, 1862 ; also Brown Se'quard's Journal, 1862. 



Naunyn. Ueber die angeblichen peripherischen Endorgane der moto- 

 rischen Nervenfasern. In Reichert und Du Bois Reymond's Archiv, 1862, 

 p. 481. 



* This view was first advanced by Kiihne in 1859 (" Untersuchungen iiber BCTVC- 

 gungen und Veriinderungen der contractilen Substanzen," Reichert und Du Bois Rev- 

 mond's Archiv, 1860). 



