Volume 2

The internal secretions and the principles of medicine / by Charles E. de M. Sajous.

  • Sajous, Charles E. de M. (Charles Eucharist de Medicis), 1852-1929.
Date:
1911
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The internal secretions and the principles of medicine / by Charles E. de M. Sajous. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    blue into animals causes their axis-cylinders, nerve-endings, etc., to become intensely blue, thus proving the presence of consider¬ able oxygen in these structures. Again, since the methylene- blue penetrates the nerves, though injected in the subcutaneous tissues to be absorbed by the blood, it is evident that it is the latter, or rather its oxygen-laden plasma, which carries the stain into the axis-cylinders, nerve-endings, etc.—precisely as is the case with tetanus toxin. That the methylene-blue actually penetrates into the axis- cylinders was recently demonstrated by Meltzer, of New York.130 Intravenous injections were followed not only by staining of these structures throughout their entire length, but when a segment of nerve was isolated between two ligatures, it failed to be stained, thus showing that the methylene-blue entered the nerve by way of its extremities, central and peripheral. Al¬ though chloride of gold and nitrate of silver solutions pene¬ trated the axis-cylinder from the side, at Banvier’s nodes, stain¬ ing the axis-cylinders a short distance, the methylene-blue solu¬ tion circulated from end to end. The concurrence with the circulation of tetanus toxin as to the role of the axis-cylinders as channels for the methylene-blue stained plasma is self- evident. Again, as shown by Apathy, the structures stained with methylene-blue are also stained by his chloride of gold method. This coincides with Meltzer’s observation that the axis-cylinders also take both these stains. Now, Barker writes: “Inside the ganglion-cells a recticulum of fine fibrils derived from the neuro¬ fibrils in transit can be stained a beautiful deep-violet color by Apathy’s chloride of gold method/’ This confirms the obser¬ vation of Adamkiewicz as to the circulation of blood-plasma in the ganglionic cells. It explains also why Meltzer found that the methylene-blue entered the axis-cylinders by way of the central nerve-cells as well as through peripheral nerve-endings. Indeed, that it is the fluid which circulates in the axis-cylinders that is present in the cellular network of neuro-fibrils is further shown by the familiar fact that the latter is also stained by methylene-blue. The link with Meltzer’s observation now ap¬ pears: “Apathy, Bethe, Nissl and other histologists have all 130 Meltzer: Amer; Jour, of Physiol., vol. x, p. xxiv, 1903-4.