38 ATLAS OF NERVE CELLS 



Plate XVIII. shows the molecular layer of the cortex, its intricate plexus of nerve fibres, 

 and a few of the small polygonal cells which give rise to basket fibres. Cajal and Kolliker do 

 not distinguish these cells sharply from the small polygonal cells, previously described as the 

 first variety of cell. Cajal calls them all stellate cells. It is evident, by comparing Plates 

 XVII. and XVIII., that in appearance there is little difference between the first and second 

 variety of cell. The chief difference lies in their size and in the termination of the fibres. 

 It is extremely difficult in any one preparation to show the basket-like expansion (<$) about the 

 Purkinje cell, especially in the adult human brain. In this plate, however, one such expan- 

 sion is well shown, and two others are really present, though the undivided fibres are not easily 

 distinguished in this focus. The fibres become enlarged, diverge, and then again converge, 

 forming almost a spherical basket. These baskets lie on the margin between the molecular 

 and granular layers, hence appear, to project downward in the plate into the granular layer. 

 It can readily be imagined that these fibres surround the body of the Purkinje cell. 



