1020 



HTM AN ANATOMY. 





Nerve-fibre 



Capsule 



lymph-space. Each spindle receives usually several medullated nerve-fibres, which, 

 after incorporation of their sheaths of Henle with the capsule, pierce the latter at 

 various points and proceed to the individual muscle-fibres. The terminal relations 

 of the nerves to the intrafusal fibres have been studied by means of the newer 



methods especially by Ruffini, 

 Huber and DeWitt and Dogiel. 

 After repeated division during 

 their course through the cap- 

 sule and periaxial space, the 

 nerve-fibres pierce the axial 

 sheath, lose their medullary 

 coat and terminate either as 

 one or more ribbon-like 

 branches that encircle the mus- 

 cle-fibres in annular or spiral 

 windings, or, after further 

 subdivision, as branched telo- 

 dendria in which the ultimate 

 fibrils end in irregular spherical 

 or pyriform enlargements. 



Neurotendinous End- 

 ings. These end-organs, 

 described by Golgi and sub- 

 sequently more fully investi- 

 gated by Kolliker, Ciaccio, and 

 Huber and DeWitt, in their 

 general architecture resemble 

 closely the sensory endings in 

 muscle. They lie embedded 

 within the interfascicular con- 

 nective tissue and are usually 

 found in the vicinity of the 

 junction of muscle and tendon. 

 Like the neuromuscular end- 

 ings, the tendon- spindles are 

 long fusiform structures, from 

 I. -1. 5 mm. in length, sur- 

 rounded by a fibrous capsule. 

 The latter encloses a group of 

 from eight to twenty intrafusal 

 tendon fasciculi, which are 

 smaller and apparently less 

 mature than those of the sur- 

 rounding tendon-tissue. ' The 

 intrafusal fasciculi are invested 

 by a film .us axial sheath be- 

 t\v.-rn which and the capsule 

 lies a periaxial lymph-space. 



On reaching the spindle, 

 after repeated branching, the 

 medullated nerve-fibres pene- 

 trate the capsule, with which 

 their fibrous ( Henle's) sheaths 

 Mend, and undergo further 



The medullary mat is lost alter they pierce the axial sheath, the naked axis- 

 up mll> *i-'iller fibrils that extend alon^ the intrafusal fasciculi. The 



Nerve-fibre 



riirolcMclin :\ loiiKitllfli- 



-'. (Drawn ln.in pit- pa rat ion 

 r llui 



division, 

 cylinders 



terminal ramifications, applied to th<- surface of the fasciculi, vary in details (Huber). 



SOUK- arise as short lateral branches that partly encircle the fasciculi and end in 



ular plate-like expansions, while others terminate between the smaller fasciculi. 



