Lionel Smith Beale. lxiii 



nervous system was that there are no free nerve terminations ; that ' in all 

 cases the terminal distribution of nerves is a plexus, network, or loop, and 

 hence that in connection with every terminal nervous apparatus there must 

 be at least two fibres, and that in all cases there exist complete circuits, into 

 the formation of which central nerve-cells, peripheral nerve-cells, and nerve- 

 fibres enter.' This view of Beale has been revived to a great extent by 

 Apathy, and Pfluger has recently expressed his doubts as to the correctness 

 of Waldeyer's neuron-theory ; but if we may place reliance on Ehrlich's 

 intra-vitam staining with methylene blue, and on the various modifications 

 of Golzi's method, there cannot be any doubt that nerve-fibres have definite 

 terminations, and that Beale's conception of ' circuits ' is not tenable. But 

 though there be no direct continuity between efferent and afferent nerves 

 of the cord, there is an indirect continuity by way of the tissues which are 

 supplied with ' motor ' and ' sensory ' nerves. An equilibrium can only be 

 established by both motor and sensory reflexes. 



" Beale was partly led to his view by the important discovery that the nerve 

 cells in the central nervous system of man, the dog, and cat, show a distinct 

 fibrillation on being treated with dilute acetic acid. Not only did he trace 

 these fibrils from the dendritic processes to the axis cylinder process, but 

 also from one dendron to other dendra. As far as the arrangement of nerve- 

 fibrils in nerve cells of the spinal cord is concerned, no new facts have been 

 added to what Beale published 43 years ago, although by recent methods 

 nerve-fibrils can be made plain to those who have no special gifts for 

 microscopic work. 



" Microscopical researches were to Beale a labour of love, and all who study 

 his directions, how to become proficient in this line of investigation, cannot 

 fail to be drawn unconsciously to follow the paths Beale travelled, and to 

 endeavour to achieve as much as he did." 



P. H. P-S. 



