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Regeneration of Nerves. 



By F. W. Mott, M.D., F.E.S., W. D. Halliburton, M.D., F.B.S., and 

 Arthur Edmunds, M.S., B.Sc, F.E.C.S. 



(Eeceived June 12,— Eead June 28, 1906.) 

 [Plate 15.] 



In 1901 two of us published a paper on Nerve Degeneration,* a subject 

 which it is almost impossible to study without taking into account the closely- 

 related subject of nerve regeneration. From the microscopic study of the 

 distal portions of divided nerve trunks we arrived at the conclusion that the 

 activity of the neurilemmal cells has some relation to the development of the 

 new nerve-fibres. At an early stage in degeneration they multiply ; later 

 they participate with phagocytes in the removal of the broken-up myelin 

 droplets ; subsequently they elongate, and, becoming connected end to end, 

 lead to the formation of what some term embryonic nerve-fibres. These 

 three stages are illustrated by some of the microphotographs published in 

 the paper alluded to. (See especially figs. 22, 25, and 27.) 



We were, however, extremely doubtful whether this appearance really indi- 

 cated the formation of real nerve-fibres capable of conducting impulses, and 

 felt that such incomplete observations could not be considered as serious 

 objections to the view of those who, from "Waller onwards, have taught that 

 the axis cylinder is the branch of a nerve-cell which grows towards the 

 periphery. 



In a preliminary communication! which we published two years ago we 

 called special attention to the work of Howell and HuberJ on the subject. 

 These observers, who employed both histological and experimental methods of 

 observation, and who noted, as all other writers before and since have done, 

 the neurilemmal activity, arrived at the conclusion that although these peri- 

 pheral structures are active in preparing the scaffolding, the axis cylinder, 

 which is the essential portion of a nerve-fibre, has an exclusively central 

 origin. We further stated that the more work we have done on the subject 

 the more have we become convinced that this view is the correct one. 



The purpose of this paper is to state more fully the evidence that has led 

 us to this conclusion. 



* " The Chemistry of Nerve-Degeneration," by F. W. Mott and W. D. Halliburton, 

 'Phil. Trans..' B, vol. 194, pp. 437—466, 1901. 



t ' Proceedings of the Physiol. Soc.,' March 19, 1904 ; ' Journal of Physiology,' vol. 31. 

 % 1 Journ. of Physiology,' vol. 13, p. 333 1892) ; vol. 14, p. 183 (1893). 



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