CHAPTER XXXIV. 



AXIS-CYLINDER AND DENDRITE STAINS (gOLGI AND OTHERS). 



808. Introduction. — There are three chief methods for the 

 anatomical (§ 736) study of axis-cylinders and protoplasmic 

 nerve-cell processes, viz. the methylen-blue intra-vitnm 

 method, the bichromate-and-silver method of GrOLGi, and the 

 bichromate-and-sublimate method of GtOLGi. The two latter, 

 with some other methods suitable for the same or similar 

 purposes, form the subject of this chapter. 



809. The Methods of Golgi. There are two methods of 

 GrOLGi, viz. the Bichromate and Nitrate of Silver Method and 

 the Corrosive Sublimate Method. 



The bichromate and nitrate of silver method has been 

 worked out by Golgi in three forms — the slow process, the 

 rapid process, and the mixed process.* 



The rapid process is the one that is the most in use at the 

 present time, and may be taken to be the classical method 

 of inquiry into the finer relations of the neurons in hardened 

 tissue. 



General characters of the impregnation. — The preparations 

 have not in the least the appearance of stains, and are even 

 very different in aspect from the impregnations obtained by 

 the ordinary methods of impregnating with silver or gold. 



* In a recent text-book, the Leitfaden of Rawitz, the sublimate method 

 is called " the slow method of Golgi," and the bichromate and silver 

 nitrate method is given imder the form of the slow process, and called 

 " the rapid method of Golgi." Rawitz fvirther attributes the rapid 

 method to Ramon y Oajal, which is equally erroneous. Similar con- 

 fusions are made by Mbeciee in his Coupes du Systeme Nerveux Central, 

 and by Pollack and other authors. Valuable accounts of the silver 

 method have been given by v. Lenhossbk in his Feinere Bau d. Nerven- 

 sijsteiiis, 2nd edit., 1895, and by Kalliits in the art. " Golgischo 

 Methode " in the Encycl. mile. Technilc, 1903. 



