No. 402.] ` THE ‘NEURONE. THEORY. ^" 461 
fibres spring from the neuropile, Z.e., have an. indirect: origin, 
and the ventral fibres arise directly from ganglion. cells in the 
ventral horn of the cord. This example was practically conclu- 
sive, and later neurologists have been generally free to admit 
that nerve fibres differ as to their mode of origin, some coming 
directly from cells, others indirectly, z.e., from the neuropile. 
All-absorbing as many of the neurologists of the past found 
this problem of the anatomical origin of nerve fibres, its. solu- 
tion was followed by no important generalizations. This is 
probably due to the fact that the views of both the principal 
D 
Fic. 2 Ideal. 1 £ Lia * 1 3:1 : L $ ward 1 
of a ventral neurone. The d l begins in the integument (/), has its cell body 
Situated in the d 1 lion ( t h dat the d lside(D). The ventral 
neurone has its cell body. in the ventral part of the cord (V ) and is distributed peripher- 
ally to muscle fibres (AZ). ` 
contending parties proved to be correct, and the whole conflict, 
like the inconclusive battles of military history, was lost sight 
of. But the mass of observations accumulated in the discus- 
sion of the anatomical origin of nerve fibres was destined to 
become a soil from which new growth was to spring. The 
change that now came over this field of inquiry was in part due 
to the invention of:two.new methods of research, Golgi’s silver 
impregnation method and Ehrlich’s methylen-blue staining, and 
in part to a new way of looking at old problems, which, though 
vastly stimulated by the results obtained through the new. 
methods, was in a measure independent of these. It is note-. 
