166 STUDIES IN ELECTRO-PHYSIOLOGY: 



A termination of medullated nerve- fibres in tendon 

 near the muscular insertion is shown by Golgi (Fig. 87), 

 but more interesting is Szymonowicz's drawing of end- 

 plates with the axis cylinders and their final ramifications 

 of fibrillee, as it also makes it clear that the muscular fibres 

 vary in diameter and therefore in tension also. 



The word " plates " is confusing. They do not look 

 like plates, but more closely resemble bunches of wire- 

 The term " end-organs " is in keeping with their appearance 

 and probable function, and we will so refer to them. 



We must not for one moment depart from our hypo- 

 thesis of the condenser-compartment action of muscular 

 fibre, nor forget that the contraction of muscle is not along 

 a straight line but in curves, and, furthermore, that the 

 sarcomeres of a muscular fibre may not be required to be, 

 and obviously are not, connected wholly in series. 



Suppose these end-organs to be composed of fibrillae, 

 stretching to and connecting with different sets of sar- 

 comeres, in such manner that those, and those alone, would 

 be directly stimulated or acted upon, and we may begin to 

 comprehend in some measure their function and dis- 

 tribution. 



Professor Rosenthal gives the following account of 

 the termination of nerve in muscle : " The nerve passes 

 into direct contact with the muscle-substance. . . . The 

 nerve-fibres, in their course within the muscle, touch 

 externally many muscle-fibres, over which they pass before 

 they finally end at another muscle-fibre . . . only those 

 pulsate at which the nerve-fibre ends. . . . The nerve- 

 sheath is, as we already know, a real isolator as regards the 

 process of excitement within the fibre ; for an excitement 

 within a nerve-fibre remains isolated in this, and is not 

 transferred to any neighbouring fibre. It is quite im- 

 possible, therefore, that it can transfer itself to the 

 muscle-substance, since it is separated from the latter 



