1895.] MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 181 



thing of that nature, which tlie physiologists ask us to 

 imagine when they say that the activities of gland cells 

 can be called forth by stimulation of the nerves. (There 

 is only this difference that I point out — the nerves necess- 

 ary for the activity of the capillary, while for that of the 

 gland cells the nerves are assumed. Thus no new demands 

 are made on the faith of the physiologists.) The relation 

 of capillary cells to the blood current and their flat shape 

 seem, furthermore, to make these structures well adapted 

 for such assigned functions. 



I am therefore, of the opinion that we have here in 

 the nerves supplying the capillaries of the muscles 

 those structures that correspond to the nerves which call 

 forth secretion in the glands, and not in the nerves sup- 

 plying the muscle-fibres themselves, calling forth con- 

 tractions. The formation of carbonic acid and other 

 substances, with the solution of heat, would therefore 

 correspond to the formation of saliva, while I have also 

 looked in vain for nerves supplying the gland cells. I 

 have found them supplying the capillaries as abundantly 

 as in the capillaries of muscle in the sub-maxillary of the 

 cat and dog. The mucous glands in the frog's tongue 

 furnish such favorable subjects for the described method 

 that one would expect to find them here ; but even with 

 these structures I have not been successful. Why, then, 

 can they be found on the cells of the capillary wall and 

 not on the gland cells, while the latter are far more 

 massive organs than the former ? 



If, however, the fact that the capillaries are supplied 

 with nerves and the peculiar structure of the capillaries 

 are not entirely ignored, it is not at all necessary to as- 

 cribe nerves to the gland cells. The fact of experiment 

 and the ordinary function of the gland can readily be 

 explained by these nerves of the capillaries, but one must 

 not identify the effect of their activity with the vaso- 



