ELECTRICALLY STIMULATED GANGLION CELLS. 3 



histology of resting and secreting glands. There are 

 evident points of similarity between the active pro- 

 cesses of gland and ganglion cells. There seem also 

 to be points of difference which make it difficult at 

 present to homologize the processes of the two. At 

 any rate this is not the place, to discuss that phase of 

 the subject. 



The pathology of nerve tissue is, of course, closely 

 related to its functional activity. The subject, how- 

 ever, is so large, and so little of it bears directly upon 

 the point in hand, that any general discussion of the 

 pathological literature may be best relegated to a sub- 

 sequent chapter. Two papers may be briefly referred 

 to as throwing some light upon the results of my own 

 experiments. 



In 1878, Angelucci made a study of the histological 

 changes in spinal ganglion cells of four cases of ner- 

 vous disease, one of chronic, two of acute myelitis, 

 and one case of paralytic insanity. I will only note 

 that in the series of degenerative changes described by 

 him, the nucleus plays an important part. It early 

 loses its rounded outline, becoming " stelliforme,'" 

 shrinks up and disappears, leaving the cell a lump of 

 pigment and fat. 



More nearly physiological is some work of Rosen- 

 bach^ upon histological changes in the ganglion cell 

 due to hunger. Rosenbach worked upon dogs. His 

 method consisted in depriving the animals of food for 

 different lengths of time. At the expiration of the 

 desired period, or upon the death of the animal, sec- 



' Osservazioni sulle alterazioni dei ganfrli intervertebral i in alcune 

 malattie della midolla. Arnaldo .\ngelucci. Atti della R. Acca- 

 demia de Lincei, 8erie III" V<= 2" . Rome, 1878. 



• Das Nerven.system im Hungerzustande. P. Rosenbach. Central- 

 blatt fur Nervenheilkunde, 1884. 



