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PEOFESSOE BEALE’S NEW OBSEEVATIONS UPON THE 
and to the musular fibres, seem to result from the division and subdivision of the same 
fibres (Plate XXI. fig. 1). 
Nerves which are constantly distributed external to the capillary vessels and in the 
connective tissue have been demonstrated by me (Plate XXII. fig. 15) (see Archives, 
vol. iv. page 19). I consider these fibres as the afferent fibres through which an 
impression conveyed from the surface or from the tissues around capillaries, influences 
the motor nerves distributed to the small arteries from which the capillaries are derived. 
It is probable that these nerve-fibres pass to the very same set of central cells as that 
from which the vaso-motor fibres take their rise. It is through these fibres that changes 
in the nutrition of the tissues may affect the circulation in the neighbouring vessels. 
In these fungiform papillse, then, there are 
1. The bundle of nerve-fibres which is distributed to the sensitive nervous organ at 
the summit. 
2. Delicate fibres which may be traced to fibres running in the same bundles as purely 
sensitive fibres. These delicate fibres are distributed 
a. Around the capillaries of the papilla (Plate XXI. fig. 1, i). Bee also Plate XXII. 
fig. 15. 
b. Some fibres ramify in the connective tissue of the simple papillse (Plate XXI. 
fig. 1). 
c. Some are distributed to the muscular fibres (Plate XXI. figs. 1 & 9). 
Now the first and second fibres are probably sensitive, excitor, or afferent, whilst the 
last must be motor. From this observation it follows that certain afferent and motor 
fibres are intimately related at their distribution, a conclusion already arrived at in my 
investigations upon the distribution of the nerves to the frog’s bladder, the palate, and 
pharynx. Moreover I think that fine fibres passing from the plexus of sensitive fibres at 
the summit of the papilla, establish here and there a structural continuity between 
these and the fibres ramifying in the connective tissue and around the capillary vessels. 
It is very difficult to obtain a specimen which renders this perfectly certain, but I have 
been led to a similar conclusion in investigations upon the corpuscula tactus of the 
human subject. The physiological interest and importance of this branch of anatomical 
inquiry are so great, and it promises to lead to such important results, that it cannot be 
too minutely or too patiently worked out. 
Of the Muscles. 
The muscular fibres of the papilla (Plate XXI. fig. 1) are the continuations of mus- 
cular fibres in the substance of the tongue. They are excellent examples of branching 
striped muscle. The finest branches are less than 5 o,ooo th of an inch in diameter, but 
these exhibit the most distinct transverse markings. The markings, however, gradually 
cease, and the fibre becomes a mere line, which is lost in the connective tissue at the 
summit of the papilla. The arrangement will be understood if Plate XXI. figs. 1 & 9 
be referred to. 
