130 Cincinnati Society of Natural History. 



coarse dissection upon a somewhat enlarged plane by means of the 

 microscope. The present state of histological technique justifies 

 the hope that we may soon be able to map the important areas of 

 the brain with minute accuracy, even to the details of almost every 

 cell and fibre. It seems to the writer that it is to this end that 

 effort should now be directed, and that no pains will be misapplied 

 which affords us a view of the actual elementary structure of any 

 part of the nervous system. 



We recognize with gratification the great progress since 1864, 

 when Reissner could say : " It is not to be wondered at that little 

 has been accomplished in this department, inasmuch as there have 

 thus far been few students of the structure of the brain in general. " 

 ("Nervous System of the Anura".) It was only in 1852 when 

 Wyman admitted that " the connection between fibre and cell could 

 never be made out " 



Our satisfaction disappears, however, when we find Raue in 

 1889 calmly saying : " The origins of the sensory nerves are still 

 more or less wrapped in mystery. What has hitherto been taken 

 for granted, viz.: that all the nerves arise from ganglionic cells, 

 and that, therefore, not only sensorial perceptions, but all mental 

 activities, originate by some sort of chemical and molecular action 

 within the cells, seems likely to prove fallacious. If the latest 

 researches of Max Schultze are correct, it appears that the nerve 

 cell is essentially only an enlargement with nucleus and nucleoli, 

 of the axis cylinder; that, therefore, it does not represent the 

 beginning, but is merely an intervening expansion of the nerve in 

 its course. 1 ' 



As will be gathered from the technical portion of this paper, 

 there still remains a great deal to do in the comparative domain in 

 the simpler problems of gross anatomy of the brain of lower animals. 

 It is obvious that in many cases, at least, the solution of the 

 extraordinary complicated structural problems presented by anthro- 

 potomy must be reached by a study of the same problems in the 

 simpler terms of the comparative subject. 



The present paper is a first contribution to a series of such prob- 

 lems. The somewhat disconnected jottings upon the cerebral 

 anatomy of the Crocodilia have primarily grown out of a desire to 

 test certain conclusions suggested by a study of the brain in mam- 

 mals. The relative simplicity and the primitive character of the 

 brain of the alligator seemed to make it a fit subject for comparison 



