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 Early praise for Programming Sound with Pure Data

This book covering Pure Data is pure fun. Where else can you learn how to make
lightsaber sounds with code? It’s a very nice intro to Pd and basic sound design
and focuses on practical things you can use in your own apps.
➤ Jack Moffitt, senior research engineer, Mozilla

After reading Programming Sound, I had so many ideas running through my head
that I couldn’t sleep. I learned not only how to synthesize amazing sounds (think
oceans, wind, wineglasses, and laser swords), but also why and how to dynami-
cally incorporate those in both web and native mobile applications. Thank you,
Tony!
➤ Zebulon Bowles, freelance musician and developer

Are you a sound designer? Working on a game audio project? Still looking to bring
your projects to the next level? Look no further. Pure Data is your new secret
weapon. And this is the book that will help you to get the most out of this powerful
open source application. Tony delivers!
➤ Benjamin Lemon, composer, sound designer

Hillerson makes the depth of Pure Data accessible, and in the process teaches
the basics of digital sound synthesis. Useful, fun, and highly recommended.
➤ Ben Price, senior developer, DreamQuest Games

Programming Sound raises the bar for what defines a good audio experience in
software. This book will help you see application development through an entirely
different lens. It arms you with the tools necessary to provide another avenue to
engage and delight your audience.
➤ Dan Berry, iOS developer, Tack Mobile
Programming Sound with Pure Data
Make Your Apps Come Alive with Dynamic Audio

Tony Hillerson

The Pragmatic Bookshelf

Dallas, Texas • Raleigh, North Carolina
Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products
are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book, and The Pragmatic
Programmers, LLC was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed in
initial capital letters or in all capitals. The Pragmatic Starter Kit, The Pragmatic Programmer,
Pragmatic Programming, Pragmatic Bookshelf, PragProg and the linking g device are trade-
marks of The Pragmatic Programmers, LLC.
Every precaution was taken in the preparation of this book. However, the publisher assumes
no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages that may result from the use of
information (including program listings) contained herein.
Our Pragmatic courses, workshops, and other products can help you and your team create
better software and have more fun. For more information, as well as the latest Pragmatic
titles, please visit us at http://pragprog.com.

The team that produced this book includes:

Jacquelyn Carter (editor)
Potomac Indexing, LLC (indexer)
Candace Cunningham (copyeditor)
David J Kelly (typesetter)
Janet Furlow (producer)
Juliet Benda (rights)
Ellie Callahan (support)

Copyright © 2014 The Pragmatic Programmers, LLC.

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or

transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise, without the prior consent of the publisher.

Printed in the United States of America.

ISBN-13: 978-1-93778-566-6
Encoded using the finest acid-free high-entropy binary digits.
Book version: P1.0—January, 2014
 Contents
Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii

Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . ix

Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Getting Started with Sound Design 2
Introducing Pure Data 5
Installing Pd 7
Other Software 8
Let’s Get Started 8

2. Making Some Noise . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Finding Your Way Around 9
Hello Concert A 12
Controlling Volume 15
Working with Different Frequencies 21
Next Up 24

3. Building Controls . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Visualizing Sound 27
Creating a Subpatch 29
Making Sound Move 34
Building an Envelope 41
Next Up 47

4. Creating Effects: Real-World Sounds . . . . . . . 49

Waves 50
Wind 52
A Short Interlude: Synthesis Types 56
A Toast! 57
Next Up 64
 Contents • vi

5. Working with Waves . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Exporting Sound Files 65
Loading Sound Files 69
Generating Wavetables 73
Synthesizing Other Geometric Waves 77
Next Up 80

6. Creating Effects: Swords! . . . . . . . . . 83

A Sample-Based Effect: Swords 83
A Wavetable Effect: A Lightsaber 91
Next Up 110

7. Sound in the User Experience . . . . . . . . 111

Sound Is a Public Experience 111
Sound on the Web 113
Sound on Mobile Devices 115
Next Up 116

8. Exporting Sounds for a Web Game . . . . . . . 117

Designing the Game 118
Designing and Building the Patch 120
Browsers: The Cause of and Solution to All of Our Problems 128
Integrating with the Web Game 131
Next Up 138

9. Integrating Dynamic Sounds into a Native App . . . . 139

Designing the App 139
Designing and Building the Patch 143
Introducing libpd 151
Integrating with the Native Apps 152
Next Up 162

10. Your Journey Begins . . . . . . . . . . 163

A Recap 163
Next Steps 165
Wrapping Up 166

A1. Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
 Foreword
Increasingly, new arts and media projects require some programming skills.
Studies in product design, interaction design, and user experience draw not
only on the traditional fields of sound, graphics, and haptics, but also on
practical skills with tiny embedded single-board computers like the Raspberry
Pi and Arduino, on high-level rapid-prototyping languages, and on knowledge
of browser technology and languages such as Python and C. One of the most
popular and powerful rapid-development tools for audio-signal processing is
Pure Data, Miller Puckette’s wonderful visual programming tool. With its
vibrant free-software community, and through the work of Peter Brinkman,
Hans Christoph Steiner, and many others, it has emerged as the number-one
choice for bridging the creative arts and engineering sciences.

As new university courses continue to expand, teaching sound design, sonic

interaction, and sound arts as well as the traditional computer music offerings,
the challenge of learning Pure Data in just one semester has arisen. Miller’s
book, The Theory and Technique of Electronic Music,1 and my own, Designing
Sound [Far12], offer advanced treatments of substantially theoretical fields:
electronic music and procedural audio, respectively. Each has practical ele-
ments directed at mastering these. Their use of Pure Data as a vehicle to
convey more advanced academic material makes learning it something of a
side effect. I like to recommend Johannes Kriedler’s Loadbang to my freshman
students since it is a great cookbook of “patch and go” recipes from which
one can learn much by observation. Between these lies something of a gap,
and beyond my own lecture notes I have often wanted to suggest a book that
sets out to teach Pure Data as its primary objective. Tony Hillerson offers just
such a resource here—a practical, step-wise, guided journey through master-
ing the basics of Pure Data and applying them to game applications using
the C/++ libpd libraries.

1. http://crca.ucsd.edu/~msp/techniques/latest/book-html/

report erratum • discuss

 Foreword • viii

You cannot learn programming from a book, but there is something valuable
in this book that will motivate you and set you on the right course. Only at
the end will you understand why the path is made by walking, and why I
endorse this particular journey. A key factor is that the author has clearly
trodden the road too, and speaks from personal experience, not a collection
of data sheets and theoretical texts.

In The Matrix, Neo plugs in and downloads kung fu. If only learning could be
like that. Programming is very much like kung fu. Indeed, it is no surprise
that hackers talk this way about their skills. That is to say, it is all about
experience. You learn to program by doing it. To some extent motor memory
and ineffable symbolic knowledge play a part, and with time one learns to
translate ideas and intentions into code without really thinking about the
mechanics.

In the end this is a long journey. The ten thousand hours needed to become
a master appear daunting in this age of impatience, and in the interdisciplinary
digital arts where demands are made upon your skills in mathematics, plan-
ning, physics, graphics, psychology, networks, and electronics, it seems an
impossible learning curve for which even two or three lifetimes are not enough.

But the human brain is amazing. Given a motive, an itch to scratch, the right
seeds to grow, and a little sunlight of encouragement, we are able to extrapo-
late, create, and dream our way to extraordinary accomplishments, even with
meager teaching resources. The voice of a good teacher is ever present in this
book, giving solid formative steps and encouraging you toward exploration.
Self-learning and the mathematical arts go hand-in-hand. The autodidactic
approach to programming requires curious playfulness that can be brought
out only through clear and quite simple objectives designed to be engaging;
evoke personal, emotive goals; and subtly suggest further work. Activities like
making a browser-based game are perfect for this project. Be prepared to
have a lot of fun and develop a healthy addiction to code.

Andy Farnell
Computer scientist, author of Designing Sound
London, England, October 2013

report erratum • discuss

 Acknowledgments
After coauthoring a book in the past, I told a lot of people, loudly, “never
again!” However, discovering Pure Data a few years ago gave me a chance to
converge two of my happiest pursuits: working with sound and programming.
When I discover something, I like to tell people what I’ve learned, and I was
so excited about Pure Data that I decided to break my word and write a book
again after all. I saw a gap in the literature about Pure Data, with not a lot
of information for the beginner who wants to work with sound in mobile and
web applications. I hope this book fills that gap.

Enthusiasm is enough to get started with when writing a book, but it’s not
enough to make the book a good one. I’ve needed the help of many other
people: First of all, the people who’ve read it and given feedback and found
errata during the beta. Then the reviewers, who helped immensely by offering
feedback and advice, finding bugs, and pointing out algebraic errors. I’ve
heard math in general well spoken of, but have yet to look into it. Thank you,
all! The reviewers are listed here in purely alphabetic order (by first name):

Anthony Hoang Ben Lemon Ben Price

Björn Eriksson Dan Berry Ian Dees
Jack Moffitt John Athayde Mike Riley
Scott R. Looney Zebulon Bowles

I’d like to thank Andy Farnell, who graciously provided a foreword. From his
excellent Designing Sound [Far12] I not only learned a great deal about
designing sound with Pure Data, but also got solid grounding in the principles
of sound that I had only intuitive or empirical knowledge of before. I heartily
recommend that anyone wanting to learn more about how sound works and
how to work with sound pick up his book after reading this one.

Next, I’d like to thank the publishers, Dave and Andy, my editor Jackie Carter,
and everyone at The Pragmatic Bookshelf. I’ve always thought of the Prags’
mark as a sign of excellence in our field, and to be able to write for them is

report erratum • discuss

 Acknowledgments •x

an honor indeed. The tools they provide make writing a technical book so
much easier than had been my experience in the past. In particular, Jackie’s
tireless efforts at banging my pedantic, pedestrian, prosaic, parenthetical,
run-on sentences into some sort of presentable shape are particularly
appreciated.

Thanks to everyone at Tack Mobile, and especially my partners John Myers

and Juan Sanchez. I’m proud of what we’ve built so far, and I hope my
interest in programming sound and sound design can be one aspect of the
great software we continue to build as a company.

Finally, thank you to my wife Lori and our boys Titus and Lincoln for sparing
me the time to write this book. Titus and Lincoln, I hope we can share some
interest in programming or making music or both, but if not, I know whatever
your interests and pursuits turn out to be, you will be great at them. Lori, I
know I won’t be able to interest you in programming, but I love you anyway.
And to Diāna, here’s a hopeful Laipni lūdzam mūsu ģimenē!1

Thank you, all!

1. Thanks also to Helene for help with the translation.

report erratum • discuss

 Preface
I love sound. That may seem a little strange; a lot of people would say they
love music, but I love sound—including music. I group them together, and I
find that the line between them is blurry. There are interesting rhythmic and
even melodic and harmonic elements in everyday sounds, if you listen for
them. On the other hand, elements of music when taken out of context can
lose their musicality and sound like natural events.

I hear little things all the time, which can be either good or bad. If something’s
rattling in the car it drives me crazy and I have to stop the car and make the
noise stop. That makes my wife crazy, but I can’t help myself. That’s why it’s
so important to me to have sound done well in digital experiences, where I
spend most of my time. When I say “digital experiences” I mean anything
happening on a computer: web pages, web applications, native applications,
mobile apps, kiosk apps, art installations, and, of course, games in any form.

Sound, and now I mean sound effects as distinct from music, is tricky to get
right in digital experiences. Sound is very rarely a necessity. Even in games,
where it’s expected as a part of the experience, it’s rare that the user needs
sound to play. There are usually controls somewhere to turn sound off, but
you’ll never find a control to turn off the screen or mouse or touch interaction.

On the other hand, playing a game without sound takes away an important
dimension of the experience. It’s flat, boring, unconvincing. If there’s not a
little ding when you collect a coin, it’s not satisfying. If you’re running through
the forest and you don’t hear forest sounds, it’s the opposite of immersive—it
feels like merely looking at someone running through the forest on a little
screen instead of being there.

Not only games can benefit from sound in this way, though. A few apps I’ve
used struck the right tone, if you’ll pardon the pun, with some tasteful and,
above all, meaningful sounds as part of the experience.

This book is not able to teach you good taste, sadly. But, if you decide this
book is for you, you will learn how to gain understanding and control over

report erratum • discuss

 Preface • xii

the sound you decide fits the digital experiences you create. You’ll learn how
to design and create the sound you want to hear.

Who Is This Book For?

I make a few assumptions about you, the reader. First of all, I assume you’re
as interested in the audible experience as I am. You may be a programmer
or designer. You’re probably interested in what you can learn about the
technical details of getting sounds into a web or native app, but it’s OK if
you’re just interested in learning about some technical approaches to
designing sound.

I assume you’ve dabbled with sound design in the past. It was most likely by
digging around in a sample library for the right premade sound and maybe
editing that sound a bit to get what you wanted out of it. Maybe you’re
intrigued by the idea of doing some professional sound design in the game
or movie industry, or maybe not, but for now you want to know how to gain
more control over your ability to enhance digital experiences both native and
on the Web.

You may also be a musician. As I mentioned, this book isn’t about music in
digital experiences; it’s geared toward sound effects. However, all of the skills
you’ll learn here are easily applicable to musical experiences and musical
apps, and at the very least they’ll give you a better understanding of how to
think about sound in music.

In short, I assume you have little to no experience with anything but dabbling
with sound, but you’re interested and want to learn more. I would be
extremely happy if this book helps out those independent or small-shop
developers and designers who have to wear many hats during the day and
don’t have the budget for a dedicated sound team.

What This Book Covers

This is a practical book for people interested in digital sound design for the
Web and native apps. We’ll focus on using one software application, Pure
Data. We’ll go through the steps of creating two sets of practical examples:
sound-effect scenes that can be controlled dynamically or output to a file.

The first set will illustrate a few different sound-synthesis methods, and the
second will show how to work with existing sounds, like you might get from
a professional sound-effect library.

report erratum • discuss

 What This Book Doesn’t Cover • xiii

After getting used to using Pure Data and creating these examples, we’ll look
briefly at how to get the sounds we’ve made out of Pure Data and into a usable
format, and then quickly discuss some sound-production topics.

We’ll then take a brief interlude to discuss the user experience (UX) of sound
on the Web and in native applications.

Finally, we’ll consider two premade projects, a web project and a native
application. We’ll design sound effects for both of these, taking into account
what the best UX for each is and what you’ve learned of sound design, and
consider the possibilities of dynamic sound in the native applications.

We’ll wrap up by considering what you’ve learned so far and a few possible
directions you could take next in your journey to becoming a sound designer.

What This Book Doesn’t Cover

Sound design is a deep and rich field. It grew up with the movie industry and
is an essential part of the game industry. There are also many different
approaches to designing sound within those areas. This book is an introduc-
tion to sound design for digital experiences on the Web and in native
applications, which could include games.

We’ve chosen a pragmatic approach to introducing this subject; one that

focuses on building practical examples using synthesis with a procedural
sound application, which is only one of many possible ways to design sound.
Here are some other important topics that aren’t in scope for this book, but
you may want to dig into next:

• This book does not cover capturing or recording sounds for analysis or
sound production. Audio engineering, field recording, and Foley studio
work are all good things to have under your belt as a sound designer, but
we won’t discuss them in any depth here.

• Analysis of recorded sound is also beyond the scope of this book. To

reproduce a convincing effect it’s very useful to know what’s going on in
a real-world example instead of guessing. We’ll only have space to do a
very rudimentary, intuitive analysis of some sounds as we build our
examples, but as an area for later study, sound analysis would be very
beneficial.

• There is a lot of math behind describing and reproducing sound. Algebra.

Trigonometry for describing oscillators and geometric waves. Calculus
for, among other things, Fourier analysis. That math is good to know, but
beyond the scope of this book.

report erratum • discuss

 Preface • xiv

• A deep understanding of the science of sound is extremely helpful to the

sound designer. In the field of physics, material physics, fluid dynamics,
acoustics, and many others will help you understand from first principles
how sound is made and how to reproduce it. Understanding the math
used to express the physics in these areas will be helpful too. All of our
practical examples will be intuitively designed, and we won’t take the time
to dig into the science of why the sound works the way it does. A great
next step would be to start to understand the underlying causes of sound.

• Psychoacoustics, or the study of how humans process and perceive sound,

is important to understand as a sound designer. There are some surprising
things to learn from the field that can help you become a better and more
efficient sound designer, but we won’t have time to dig into those here.

Where Will You Be When You Finish This Book?

When you’ve read this book you’ll have had the experience of creating a set
of sound effects using Pure Data, ready for inclusion in a dynamic sound
application or for creating a static sound file. You’ll have a practical under-
standing of sound-synthesis techniques and a general understanding of how
different fundamental components of sound can be used to produce sounds
anywhere, from those we hear every day to those we’d hear only in a futuristic
science-fiction world.

You’ll be ready to take the next steps to understanding and growing as a

sound designer, whether that be practicing what you learn here, building
sounds for games and apps you’ll be making, or digging in deeper to the math,
physics, and other fundamentals of sound design.

Online Resources
On The Pragmatic Bookshelf’s page for this book there are some important
resources.1 There are code downloads containing all the Pure Data patches
you’ll see in this book, as well as the source for the web, Android, and iOS
projects. You’ll also find feedback tools such as a community forum and an
errata-submission form where you can recommend changes for future
releases of the book.

1. http://pragprog.com/book/thsound/programming-sound-with-pure-data

report erratum • discuss

Another Random Scribd Document
with Unrelated Content
 Fig. 17.—Nerve-cell from the anterior gray substance of the spinal cord of a calf
magnified 600. a, the axis cylinder; b, the branched process. The neuroplasm is
represented as distinctly fibrillated, with granular substance interspersed. Nucleus
and nucleolus very distinct.

121. Such is a general description of the nerve-cell as it is seen in

various places, and under various modes of preparation. How much
is due to preparation we cannot positively say. While we always
discover fibrine in the blood after it is withdrawn from the vessels,
we know that fibrine as such does not exist in the circulating blood.
And if neurine is a semi-liquid substance, we may doubt whether in
the living cell it is fibrillated. Doubts have been thrown even on the
normal existence of the granular substance, which has been
attributed to coagulation. Thus we know that the nucleus of the
white blood-corpuscle appears perfectly homogeneous until
subjected to heat, yet at a certain temperature (86° F.) it assumes
the aspect of a fine network. Haeckel observed the hyaline
substance of the neurine in crayfish become troubled and changed
directly any fluid except its own blood-serum came in contact with it.
Leydig noticed the transparent ganglion of a living Daphnia become
darker and darker as the animal died; and I saw something like this,
after prolonged struggles of a Daphnia to escape from a thread in
which its leg was entangled. Charles Robin, indeed, asserts that the
passage from the hyaline to the finely granulated state is a
141
characteristic of the dying cell. On the other hand, it should be
noted that Max Schultze describes a fibrillated appearance in cells
just removed from the living animal, and placed in serum.
When, therefore, one observer describes the neuroplasm as being
clear as water, another as finely granular, and a third as fibrillated,
we must conclude that the observations refer to cells, 1°, under
different states of vitalization, or, 2°, under different modes of
preparation. On the first head we note that some nerve-cells are so
perishable that Trinchese declares he could find no cells in the
ganglia of a cuttlefish which had been dead twenty-four hours,
142
although they were abundant in one recently killed. On the
second head we note that the changes wrought by modes of
preparation cannot be left out of consideration. Auerbach notices
that the cells and fibres apparent in the plexus myentericus after an
acid has been applied, cannot be detected before that application—
nothing is visible but a pale gelatinous network, with here and there
knots of a paler hue; and I remember my surprise on examining the
fresh spinal cord of a duck-embryo, and finding no trace of cells such
as I had that very morning seen in the cord of a chick of earlier
date, but which had been soaked in weak bichromate of potash.
Now we have excellent grounds for believing that in both cases
these organites were present, and that it was the reagent which
disclosed their presence in the chick; and so in other cases we must
ask whether the forms which appear under a given mode of
preparation are simply unmasked, or are in truth produced by the
reagent? This question we can rarely answer.
If one of the very large cells be taken from the ganglion of a
living mollusc, and be gently pressed till it bursts, the discharged
contents will be seen to be of a hyaline viscid substance, with fine
granules but no trace of fibres. Yet we must not rashly generalize
from this, and declare that in the vertebrate cells the substance is
not also fibrillated. As a good deal of speculation rests on the
assumption of the fibrillated cell-contents, I have thought it worth
while to note the uncertainty which hovers round it.
 122. Among the uncertainties must be reckoned the question as
to the cell-processes. The existence of apolar and unipolar cells is
flatly denied by many writers, who assert that the appearances are
due to the fragility of the processes. Fragile the processes are, and
evidence of their having been broken off meet us in every
preparation; but the denial of apolar and unipolar cells seems to me
only an example of the tendency to substitute hypothesis for
observation (§ 114). The “postulate” which some seem to regard as
a “necessity of thought” that every nerve-cell shall have at least two
fibres, one ingoing, the other outgoing, is allowed to override the
143
plain evidence. It originated in the fact first noticed by Wagner
and Charles Robin that certain cells in the spinal ganglia of fishes are
bipolar. The fact was rapidly generalized, in spite of its not being
verified in other places; the generalization was accepted because (by
a strange process of reasoning running counter to all physiological
knowledge) it was thought to furnish an elementary illustration of
the reflex process. As the centre had its ingoing and outgoing nerve,
so the cell was held to be a centre “writ small,” and required its two
fibres, No one paused to ask, how a cell placed in the track of an
ingoing nerve could fulfil this office of a reflex centre; no one
supposed that the portion of the sensory fibre which continued its
course, after the interruption of the cell, was a motor fibre.
What does Observation teach? It teaches that at first all nerve-
cells are apolar. Even in the cortex of the cerebrum, where (unless
we include the nuclei and grain-like corpuscles under cells) all the
cells are finally multipolar, there is not one which has a process, up
to the seventh or eighth day of incubation (in the chick); from that
day, and onwards, cells with one process appear; later on, cells with
two, and later still, with three. By this time all the apolar cells have
disappeared. They may therefore be regarded as cells in their
infancy. However that may be, we must accept the fact that apolar
cells exist; whether they can co-operate in neural functions, is a
question which must be decided after the mode of operation of cells
is placed beyond a doubt.
 123. If apolar cells are embryonic forms of cells which afterwards
become multipolar, this interpretation will not suffice for the unipolar
cells. They are not only abundant, but are mature forms in some
organs, and in some animals; though in some organs they may truly
be regarded as embryonic. Thus in the human embryo up to the
fourth month all the cells of the spinal cord are said to be
144
unipolar, later on they become multipolar. But in birds, rabbits,
dogs, and even man, the cells in the spinal ganglia are mainly (if not
145
wholly) unipolar; nor is there any difficulty in observing the same
fact in the œsophageal ganglia of molluscs (see Fig. 22).
Such are the observations. They have indeed been forced into
agreement with the bipolar postulate, by the assumption that the
146
single process branches into two, one afferent, the other efferent.
But before making observation thus pliant to suit hypothesis, it
would be well to look more closely into the evidence for the
hypothesis itself. For my own part, I fail to see the justification of the
postulate; whereas the existence of unipolar cells is an observation
which has been amply verified.

Fig. 18.—Supposed union of two nerve-cells and a fibre. The processes subdivide
into a minute network, in which the fibre also loses itself.
 124. Bipolar cells abound; multipolar cells are still more abundant;
and these are the cells found in the gray substance of the neural
147
axis. Deiters, in his epoch-making work, propounded an
hypothetic schema which has been widely accepted. Finding that the
large cells in the anterior horn of the spinal cord gave off processes
of different kinds, one branched, the other unbranched, he held that
the latter process was the origin of the axis cylinder of a nerve-fibre,
whereas the branched process was protoplasm which divided and
subdivided, and formed the connection between one cell and
another. Gerlach has modified this by supposing that the minute
fibrils of the branching process reunite and form an axis cylinder
(Fig. 18). There is no doubt that some processes terminate in a fine
network; and there is a probability (not more) that the unbranched
process is always continuous with the axis cylinder of a motor nerve,
as we know it sometimes is with that of a dark-bordered fibre in the
white substances. This, though probable, is, however, very far from
having been demonstrated. Once or twice Kölliker, Max Schultze, and
Gerlach have followed this unbranched process as far as the root of
a motor nerve; and they infer that although it could not be traced
further, yet it did really join an axis cylinder there. In support Of this
148
inference came the observations of Koschennikoff, that in the
cerebrum and cerebellum, processes were twice seen continuous
with dark-bordered nerve-fibres. But the extreme rarity of such
observations amid thousands of cells is itself a ground for hesitation
in accepting a generalized interpretation, the more so since we have
Henle’s observation of the similar entrance of a branched process
149
into the root. Now it must be remembered that the branched
process is by no anatomist at present regarded as the origin of the
axis cylinder; so that if it can enter the root without being the origin
of a nerve-fibre, we are not entitled to assume that the entrance of
the unbranched process has any other significance (on this head
compare § 145), especially when we reflect that no trustworthy
observer now professes to have followed a nerve-fibre of the
posterior root right into a multipolar cell. Figures, indeed, have been
published which show this, and much else; but such figures are
diagrams, not copies of what is seen. They belong to Imaginary
150
Anatomy. The relation of the cell-process to the nerve-fibre will be
discussed anon.

Fig. 19.—Anastomosing nerve-cells (after Gratiolet). a, body of the cell;

c, process of uniting two cells; d, branching process.

125. A word in passing on the contradictory assertions respecting

the anastomosis of nerve-cells. That the gray substance forms a
continuum of some kind is certain from the continuity of propagation
of a stimulus. But it is by no means certain that one cell is directly
united to its neighbor by a cell-process. Eminent authorities assert
that such direct union never takes place; others, that it is a rare and
insignificant fact; others, that it is constant, and “demanded by
physiological postulates.” I will not, in the presence of distinct
affirmations, venture to deny that such appearances as are
presented in Fig. 19 may occasionally be observed; the more so as I
have myself seen perhaps half a dozen somewhat similar cases; but
it is the opinion of Deiters and Kölliker that all such appearances are
151
illusory. Granting that such connections occur, we cannot grant
this to be the normal mode; especially now the more probable
supposition is that the connection is normally established by means
of the delicate ramifications of the branching processes.
Imaginary Anatomy has not been content with the cells of the
anterior horn being thus united together, to admit of united action,
but has gone further, and supposed that the cells of the posterior
horn, besides being thus united, send off processes which unite
them with the cells of the anterior horn—and thus a pathway is
formed for the transmission of a sensory impression, and its
conversion into a motor impulse. What will the reader say when
informed that not only has no eye ever beheld such a pathway, but
that the first step—the direct union of the sensory nerve-fibre with a
cell in the posterior horn—is confessedly not visible?
126. The foregoing criticisms will perhaps disturb the reader who
has been accustomed to theorize on the data given in text-books;
but he may henceforward be more cautious in accepting such data
as premises for deduction, and will look with suspicion on the many
theories which have arisen on so unstable a basis. When we reflect
how completely the modern views of the nervous system, and the
physiological, pathological, and psychological explanations based on
these views, are dominated by the current notions of the nerve-cell,
it is of the last importance that we should fairly face the fact that at
present our knowledge even of the structure of the nerve-cell is
extremely imperfect; and our knowledge of the part it plays—its
anatomical relations and its functional relations—is little more than
guesswork!

THE NERVES.
127. We now pass to the second order of organites; and here our
exposition will be less troubled by hesitations, for although there is
still much to be learned about the structure and connections of the
nerve-fibres, there is also a solid foundation of accurate knowledge.
 A nerve is a bundle of fibres within a
membranous envelope supplied with
blood-vessels. Each fibre has also its
separate sheath, having annular
constrictions at various intervals. It is
more correctly named by many French
anatomists a nerve-tube rather than a
nerve-fibre; but if we continue to use
the term fibre, we must reserve it for
those organites which have a
membranous sheath, and thereby
distinguish it from the more delicate
fibril which has none.
The nerve tube or fibre is thus
constituted: within the sheath lies a
central band of neuroplasm identical
with the neuroplasm of nerve-cells, and
known as the axis cylinder;
surrounding this band is an envelope of
whitish substance, variously styled
myeline, medullary sheath, and white
substance of Schwann: it is closely
similar to the chief constituent of the
yolk of egg, and to its presence is due
the whitish color of the fibres, which in
its absence are grayish. The axis
cylinder must be understood as the
primary and essential element, because
not only are there nerve-fibrils
destitute both of sheath and myeline
yet fulfilling the office of Neurility, but
at their terminations, both in centres
and in muscles, the nerve-fibres always
lose sheath and myeline, to preserve
only the neuroplasmic threads of which
 Fig. 20.—a, axis cylinder the axis cylinder is said to be
formed by the fibrils of the cell composed. In the lowest fishes, in the
contents, and at a’ assuming
the medullary sheath; b, naked
invertebrates, and in the so-called
axis cylinder from spinal cord. sympathetic fibres of vertebrates, there
is either no myeline, or it is not
separated from the neuroplasm.
128. Nerve-fibres are of two kinds—1°. The dark-bordered or
medullary fibres, which have both sheath and myeline, as in the
peripheral system; or only myeline, without the sheath, as in the
central system. 2°. The non-medullary fibres, which have the
sheath, without appreciable myeline—such are the fibres of the
olfactory, and the pale fibres of the sympathetic.
Nerve-fibrils are neuroplasmic threads of extreme delicacy, visible
only under high magnifying powers (700–800), which abound in the
centres, where they form networks. The fibrils also form the
terminations of the fibres. Many fibrils are supposed to be
condensed in one axis cylinder. This is represented by Max Schultze
in Figs. 17 and 20.
129. As may readily be imagined, the semi-liquid nature of the
neuroplasm throws almost insuperable difficulties in the way of
accurately determining whether the axis cylinder in the living nerve
is fibrillated or not; whether, indeed, any of the aspects it presents in
our preparations are normal. Authorities are not even agreed as to
whether it is a pre-existent solid band of homogeneous substance,
152
or a bundle of primitive fibrils, or a product of coagulation.
Rudanowsky’s observations on frozen nerves convinced him that the
153
cylinder is a tubule with liquid contents. My own investigations of
the nerves of insects and molluscs incline me to the view of Dr.
Schmidt of New Orleans, namely, that the cylinder axis consists of
minute granules arranged in rows and united by a homogeneous
interfibrillar substance, thus forming a bundle of granular fibrils
154
enclosed in a delicate sheath —in other words, a streak of
neuroplasm which has a fibrillar disposition of its granules. We ought
to expect great varieties in such streaks of neuroplasm; and it is
quite conceivable that in the Rays and the Torpedo there are axis
cylinders which are single fibrils, and others which are bundles, with
155
finely granulated interfibrillar substance.
The fibres often present a varicose aspect, as represented in
Fig. 21. It is, however, so rarely observed in the fresh tissue, that
many writers regard it (as well as the double contour) as the product
156
of preparation. It is, indeed, always visible after the application of
water.
We need say no more at present respecting the structure of
nerve-fibres, except to point out that we have here an organite not
less complex than the cell.

Fig. 21.—Nerve-fibres from the white substance of the

cerebrum. a, a, a, the medullar contents pressed out of the
tube as irregular drops.

THE NEUROGLIA.
 130. Besides cells and fibres, there is the amorphous substance,
which constitutes a great part of the central tissue, and also enters
largely into the peripheral tissue. It consists of finely granular
substance, and a network of excessively delicate fibrils, with nuclei
interspersed. Its character is at present sub judice. Some writers
hold it to be nervous, the majority hold it to be simply one of the
many forms of connective tissue: hence its name neuroglia, or
nerve-cement.
In the convolutions of the frozen brain Walther finds the cells and
fibres imbedded in a structureless semi-fluid substance wholly free
from granules; the granules only appear there when cells have been
crushed. It is to this substance he attributes the fluctuation of the
living brain under the touch, like that of a mature abscess; the
solidity which is felt after death is due to the coagulation of this
substance. Unhappily we have no means of determining whether the
network visible under other modes of investigation is present,
although invisible, in this substance. The neuroglia, as it appears in
hardened tissues, must therefore be described with this doubt in our
minds.
If we examine a bit of central gray substance where the cells and
fibres are sparse, we see, under a low power, a network of fibrils in
the meshes of which lie nerve-cells. Under very high powers we see
outside these cells another network of excessively fine fibrils
embedded in a granular ground substance, having somewhat the
aspect of hoar-frost, according to Boll. It is supposed that the first
network is formed by the ultimate ramifications of the nerve-cell
processes, and that the second is formed by ramifications of the
processes of connective cells. In this granular, gelatinous, fibrillar
substance nuclei appear, together with small multipolar cells not
distinguishable from nerve-cells except in being so much smaller.
These nuclei are more abundant in the tissue of young animals, and
more abundant in the cerebellum than in the cerebrum. The
granular aspect predominates the fresher the specimen, though
there is always a network of fibrils; so that some regard the granules
as the result of a resolution of the fibrils, others regard the fibrils as
157
the linear crystallization (so to speak) of the granules.
131. Such is the aspect of the neuroglia. I dare not venture to
formulate an opinion on the histological question whether this
amorphous substance is neural, or partly neural and partly
connective (a substance which is potentially both, according to
Deiters and Henle), or wholly connective. The question is not at
present to be answered decisively, because what is known as
connective tissue has also the three forms of multipolar cells, fibrils,
and amorphous substance; nor is there any decisive mark by which
these elements in the one can be distinguished from elements in the
other. The physical and chemical composition of Neuroglia and
Neuroplasm are as closely allied as their morphological structure.
And although in the later stages of development the two tissues are
markedly distinguishable, in the early stages every effort has failed
158
to furnish a decisive indication. Connective tissue is dissolved by
solutions which leave nerve-tissue intact. Can we employ this as a
decisive test? No, for if we soak a section of the spinal cord in one of
these solutions, the pia mater and the membranous septa which
ramify from it between the cells and fibres disappear, leaving all the
rest unaltered. This proves that Neuroglia is at any rate chemically
different from ordinary connective tissue, and more allied to the
nervous. As to the staining process, so much relied on, nothing
requires greater caution in its employment. Stieda found that the
same parts were sometimes stained and sometimes not; and
Mauthner observed that in some cells both contents and nucleolus
were stained, while the nucleus remained clear, in other cells the
contents remained clear; and some of the axis cylinders were
159
stained, the others not. Lister found that the connective tissue
between the fibres of the sciatic nerve, as well as the pia mater,
160
were stained like the axis cylinders; and in one of my notes there
is the record of both (supposed) connective cells and nerve-cells
being stained alike, while the nerve-fibres and the (supposed)
connective fibres were unstained. Whence I conclude that the
supposition as to the nature of the one group being different from
that of the other was untenable, if the staining test is to be held
decisive.
132. The histological question is raised into undue importance
because it is supposed to carry with it physiological consequences
which would deprive the neuroglia of active co-operation in neural
processes, reducing it to the insignificant position of a mechanical
support. I cannot but regard this as due to the mistaken tendency of
analytical interpretation, which somewhat arbitrarily fastens on one
element in a complex of elements, and assigns that one as the sole
agent. Whether we call the neuroglia connective or neural, it plays
an essential part in all neural processes, probably a more important
part than even the nerve-cells, which usurp exclusive attention! To
overlook it, or to assign it a merely mechanical office, seems to me
as unphysiological as to overlook blood-serum, and recognize the
corpuscles as the only nutrient elements. The notion of the neuroglia
being a mere vehicle of support for the blood-vessels arises from not
distinguishing between the alimental and instrumental offices. In the
function of a limb, bone is a co-operant. In the function of a centre,
connective tissue is a co-operant; so that even if we acknowledge
neuroglia to be a special form of connective tissue, it is an agent in
neural processes; what its agency is, will be hereafter considered.
Following Bidder and Kupffer, the Dorpat school proclaimed the
whole of the gray substance of the posterior half of the spinal cord
to be connective tissue; and Blessig maintained that the whole of
161
the retina, except the optic fibres, was connective tissue. Even
those anatomists who regarded this as exaggerated, admitted that
connective tissue largely enters into the gray substance, especially if
the granular ground substance be reckoned as connective, the
nerve-cells being very sparse in the posterior region. Be it so. Let us
admit that the gray matter of the frog’s spinal cord is mainly
composed of neuroglia, in which a very few multipolar nerve-cells
are embedded. What must our conclusion be? Why, that since this
spinal cord is proved to be a centre of energetic and manifold reflex
actions—even to the extent of forcing many investigators to attribute
sensation and volition to it—this is proof that connective tissue does
the work of nerve-tissue, and that the neuroglia is more important
than nerve-cells!
Three hypotheses are maintainable—1°. The neuroglia is the
amorphous ground-substance of undeveloped tissue (neuroplasm)
out of which the cells and fibres of nerve-tissue and connective
tissue are evolved. 2°. It is the product of dissolved nerve cells and
fibres. 3°. It is the undeveloped stage of connective tissue. For
physiological purposes we may adopt any one of these views,
provided we keep firm hold of the fact that the neuroglia is an
essential element, and in the centres a dominant element. To make
this clear, however, we must inquire more closely into the relations of
the three elements, nerve-cells, fibres, and neuroglia.

THE RELATIONS OF THE ORGANITES.

133. In enumerating among the obstacles to research the
tendency to substitute hypothetic deductions in place of objective
facts, I had specially in my mind the wide-reaching influence of the
reigning theories of the nerve-cell. Had we a solidly established
theory of the cell, equivalent, say, to our theory of gas-pressure, we
should still need caution in allowing it to override exact observation;
but insecure as our data are, and hypothetical as are the inferences
respecting the part played by the cell, the reliance placed on
deductions from such premises is nothing less than superstition.
Science will take a new start when the whole question is
reinvestigated on a preliminary setting aside of all that has been
precipitately accepted respecting the office of the cell. This exercise
of the imagination, even should the reigning theories subsequently
be confirmed, would not fail to bring many neglected facts into their
rightful place.
 I am old enough to remember when the cell held a very
subordinate position in Neurology, and now my meditations have led
me to return, if not to the old views of the cell, at least to something
like the old estimate of its relative importance. Its existence was first
brought prominently forward by Ehrenberg in 1834, who described
its presence in the sympathetic ganglia; and by Remak in 1837, who
described it in the spinal ganglia. For some time afterwards the
ganglia and centres were said to contain irregular masses of
vesicular matter which were looked on as investing the fibres; what
their office was, did not appear. But there rapidly arose the belief
that the cells were minute batteries in which “nerve-force” was
developed, the fibres serving merely as conductors. Once started on
this track, Hypothesis had free way, and a sort of fetichistic
deification of the cell invested it with miraculous powers. In many
works of repute we meet with statements which may fitly take their
place beside the equally grave statements made by savages
respecting the hidden virtues of sticks and stones. We find the
nerve-cells credited with “metabolic powers,” which enable them to
“spiritualize impressions, and materialize ideas,” to transform
sensations into movements, and elaborate sensations into thoughts;
not only have they this “remarkable aptitude of metabolic local
162
action,” they can also “act at a distance.” The savage believes that
one pebble will cure diseases, and another render him victorious in
war; and there are physiologists who believe that one nerve-cell has
sensibility, another motricity, a third instinct, a fourth emotion, a fifth
reflexion: they do not say this in so many words, but they assign to
cells which differ only in size and shape, specific qualities. They
describe sensational, emotional, ideational, sympathetic, reflex, and
motor-cells; nay, Schröder van der Kolk goes so far as to specify
163
hunger-cells and thirst-cells. With what grace can these writers
laugh at Scholasticism?
134. The hypothesis of the nerve-cell as the fountain of nerve-
force is supported by the gratuitous hypothesis of cell-substance
having greater chemical tension and molecular instability than nerve-
fibre. No evidence has been furnished for this; indeed the only
experimental evidence bearing on this point, if it has any force,
seems directly adverse to the hypothesis. I allude to the experiments
of Wundt, which show that the faint stimulus capable of moving a
muscle when applied directly to its nerve, must be increased if the
excitation has to pass through the cells by stimulation of the sensory
164
nerve. Wundt interprets this as proving that the cells retard every
impulse, whereby they are enabled to store up latent force. The cells
have thus the office of locks in a canal, which cause the shallow
stream to deepen at particular places. I do not regard this
interpretation as satisfactory; but the fact at any rate seems to prove
that so far from the cells manifesting greater instability than the
fibres, they manifest less.
135. The hypothesis of nerve-force being developed in the
ganglia, gradually assumed a more precise expression when the
nerve-cells were regarded as the only important elements of a
ganglion. It has become the foundation-stone of Neurology,
therefore very particular care should be taken to make sure that this
foundation rests on clear and indisputable evidence. Instead of that,
there is absolutely no evidence on which it can rest; and there is
much evidence decidedly opposed to it. Neither structure nor
experiment points out the cells as the chief agents in neural
processes. Let us consider these.
Fig. 22 shows the contents of a molluscan ganglion which has
been teased out with needles.
Fig. 22.—Cells, fibres, and amorphous substance from the ganglion of a mollusc
(after Bucholtz).
 The cells are seen to vary in size, but in all there is a rim of
neuroplasm surrounding the large nucleus, and from this neuroplasm
the fibre is seen to be a prolongation. The dotted substance in the
centre is the neuroglia. Except in the possession of a nucleus, there
is obviously here no essential difference in the structure of cell and
fibre.
Now compare this with Fig. 23, representing three fibres from the
auditory nerve.
Here the cell substance, as Max Schultze remarks, “is a
continuation of the axis cylinder, and encloses the nucleus. The
medulla commonly ceases at the point where the axis enters the
cell, to reappear at its exit; but it sometimes stretches across the cell
to enclose it also: so that such a ganglion cell is in truth simply the
165
nucleated portion of the cylinder axis.” There are many places in
which fibres are thus found with cells inserted in their course as
swellings: in the spinal ganglia of fishes these are called bipolar
cells; they are sometimes met with even in the cerebellum; but
oftener in peripheral nerves, where they are mostly small masses of
granular neuroplasm from which usually a branching of the fibre
takes place. The point to which attention is called is that in some
cases, if not in all, the nerve-fibre is structurally continuous with the
cell contents. The two organites—fibre and cell—differ only as
regards the nucleus and pigment. Haeckel, who affirms that in the
crayfish (Astacus fluviatilis) he never saw a cell which did not
continue as a fibre, thinks there is always a marked separation of the
granular substance from its “hyaline protoplasm,” and that only this
latter forms the axis cylinder. But although my observations agree
with this as a general fact, I have seen even in crayfish the granular
substance prolonged into the axis cylinder; and in other animals the
granular substance is frequently discernible.
Indeed it may be said that anatomists are now tolerably
unanimous as to the axis cylinder being identical with the
protoplasmic cell substance. If this be so, we have only to recall the
principle of identity of property accompanying identity of structure,
to conclude that whatever properties
we assign to the cells (unless we
restrict these to the nucleus and
pigment) we must assign to the axis
cylinders. We can therefore no longer
entertain the hypothesis of the cells
being the fountains or reservoirs of
Neurility; the less so when we reflect
that cells do not form the hundredth
part of nerve-tissue: for even the gray
substance bears but a small proportion
to the white; and of the gray
substance, Henle estimates that one
half is fibrous, the rest is partly cellular,
partly amorphous. Those who derive
Neurility from the cells, forget that
although the organism begins as a cell,
and for some weeks consists mainly of
cells, yet from this time onwards there
is an ever-increasing preponderance of
cell-derivatives—fibres, tubes, and
amorphous substance—and
corresponding with this is the ever-
increasing power and complexity of the
organism.
136. From another point of view we
must reject the hypothesis. Not only
does the evidence which points to the
essential continuity in structure of
nerve cell and fibre discredit the notion
of their physiological diversity, but it is
further supported by the fact that
Fig. 23—Fibres from the
although the whole nervous system is auditory nerve. a, the axis
structurally continuous, an immense cylinder; b, the cellular
mass of nerve-fibres have no
immediate connection with ganglionic enlargement; c, the medullary
cells:—neither springing from nor sheath.
terminating in such cells, their activity
cannot be assigned to them. To many readers this statement will be
startling. They have been so accustomed to hear that every fibre
begins or terminates in a cell, that a doubt thrown on it will sound
paradoxical. But there is an equivoque here which must be got rid
of. When it is said that every fibre has its “origin” in a cell, this may
be true if origin mean its point of departure in evolution, for “cells”
are the early forms of all organites; but although every organite is at
first a cell, and in this sense a nerve-fibre must be said to originate
in a cell, we must guard against the equivoque which arises from
calling the highly differentiated organite, usually designated
ganglionic cell, by the same name as its starting-point. On this
ground I suggest the term neuroblast, in lieu of nerve-cell, for the
earlier stages in the evolution of cell and fibre. Both Embryology and
Anatomy seem to show that cell and fibre are organites
differentiated from identical neuroblasts, with a somewhat varying
history, so that in their final stages the cell and fibre have
conspicuous differences in form with an underlying identity; just as a
male and female organism starting from identical ova, and having
essential characters in common, are yet in other characters
conspicuously unlike. The multipolar cell is not necessarily the origin
of a nerve-fibre, although it is probable that some short fibres have
their origin in the prolongations of cells. Although the latter point
has not, I think, been satisfactorily established, except in the
invertebrata, I see no reason whatever to doubt its probability; what
seems the least reconcilable with the evidence is the notion that all
fibres arise as prolongations from ganglionic cells, instead of arising
independently as differentiations from neuroblasts. The reader will
observe that my objection to the current view is purely anatomical;
for the current view would suit my physiological interpretations
equally well, and would be equally irreconcilable with the hypothesis
of the cell as the source of Neurility, so long as the identity of
structure in the axis cylinder and cell contents is undisputed.
 137. The evidence at present stands thus: There are numerous
multipolar cells which have no traceable connection with nerve-
fibres; and fibres which have no direct connection with multipolar
cells. By the first I do not mean the disputed apolar cells, I mean
cells in the gray substance of the centres which send off processes
that subdivide and terminate as fibrils in the network of the
Neuroglia (Figs. 16, 18). It is indeed generally assumed that these
have each one process—the axis-cylinder process—which is
prolonged as a nerve-fibre; nor would it be prudent to assert that
such is never the case; though it would be difficult to distinguish
between a fibre which had united with a process and a fibre which
was a prolongation of a process, in both cases the neuroplasm being
identical. I only urge that the assumption is grounded not on
anatomical evidence, but on a supposed necessary postulate. All that
can be demonstrated is that some processes terminate in excessively
fine fibrils; and occasionally in thousands of specimens processes
have been traced into dark-bordered fibres. It is true that they often
present appearances which have led to the inference that they did
so terminate—appearances so deceptive that Golgi and Arndt
independently record observations of unbranched processes having
the aspect of axis cylinders being prolonged to a considerable
distance (600 μ in one case), yet these were found to terminate not
166
in a dark-bordered fibre, but in a network of fibrils.
138. While it is thus doubtful whether dark-bordered fibres are
always immediately connected with cells, it is demonstrable that
multitudes of fibres have only an indirect connection with cells, being
developed as outgrowths from other fibres. Dr. Beale considers that
in each such outgrowths have their origin in small neuroplasmic
masses (his “germinal matter”). That is another question. The fact
here to be insisted on is that we often find groups of cells with only
two or three fibres, and groups of fibres where very few cells exist.
Schröder van der Kolk says that in a sturgeon (Accipenser sturio)
weighing 120 pounds he found the spinal cord scarcely thicker than
that of a frog; the muscles of this fish are enormous, and its motor
nerves abundant; yet these nerves entered the cord by roots no
thicker than a pig’s bristle; and in the very little gray matter of the
cord there was only a cell here and there found after long search.
Are we to suppose that these rare cells were the origins of all the
motor and sensory nerves? A similar want of correspondence may be
noticed elsewhere. Thus in the spinal cord of the Lamprey my
preparations show very few cells in any of the sections, and
numerous sections show none at all. Stieda counted only eight to
ten cells in each horn of some osseous fishes, except at the places
where the spinal roots emerged. In the eel and cod he found parts
of the cord quite free from cells, and in other parts found two, three,
never more than ten. In birds he counted from twenty-five to thirty.
Particular attention is called to this fact of the eel’s cord being thus
deficient, because every one knows the energetic reflex action of
that cord, each separate segment of which responds to peripheral
stimulation.
It may indeed be urged that these few cells were the origin of all
the fibres, the latter having multiplied by the well-known process of
subdivision; and in support of this view the fact may be cited of the
colossal fibres of the electric fishes, each of which divides into five-
and-twenty fibres, and in the electric eel each fibre is said by Max
Schultze to divide into a million of fibrils. But I interpret this fact
otherwise. It seems to me to prove nothing more than that the
neuroplasm has differentiated into few cells and many fibres. And
my opinion is grounded on the evidence of Development, presently
to be adduced. If we find (and this we do find) fibres making their
appearance anywhere before multipolar cells appear, the question is
settled.
139. Dr. Beale regards the large caudate cells of the centres as
different organites from the oval and pyriform cells, and thinks they
are probably stations through which fibres having different origins
merely pass, and change their directions; and Max Schultze says
that no single fibril has been found to have a central origin; every
fibril arises at the periphery, and passes through a cell, which is thus
167
crossed by different fibrils. (Comp. Fig. 17.)
 The teaching of Development is on this point of supreme
importance. Unhappily there has not yet been a sufficient collection
of systematic observations to enable us to speak very confidently as
to the successive stages, but some negative evidence there is. The
changes take place with great rapidity, and the earliest stages have
hardly been observed at all. Although for several successive years I
watched the development of tadpoles, the difficulties were so great,
and the appearances so perplexing, that the only benefit I derived
was that of being able the better to understand the more successful
investigations of others. Four or five days after fecundation is the
earliest period of which I have any recorded observation; at this
period the cerebral substance appeared as a finely granular matter,
having numerous lines of segmentation marking it off into somewhat
spherical and oval masses, interspersed with large granules and fat
globules. Here and there hyaline substance appeared between the
segments. Similar observations have since been recorded by Charles
168
Robin in the earliest stages of the Triton. He says that when the
external gills presented their first indications, nuclei appeared, each
surrounded by a rim of hyaline substance, from which a pale
filament was prolonged at one end, sometimes one at both ends,
and this filament subdivided as it grew in length until it had all the
appearance of an axis cylinder. This, however, he says, is a striation,
not a fibrillation; he refuses to admit that the axis cylinder is a
bundle of fibrils. He further notices the simultaneous appearance of
amorphous substance; and as this is several days before there is any
trace of a pia mater, or proper connective tissue, he urges this
among the many considerations which should prevent the
identification of neuroglia with connective tissue.
In a very young embryo of a mole (I could not determine its age)
the cortex of the hemispheres showed granular amorphous
substance, in which were embedded spherical masses of somewhat
paler color, which had no nuclei, and were therefore not cells.
Besides these, there were nucleated masses (apolar cells, therefore)
and more developed cells, unipolar, bipolar, and tripolar. Not a trace
of a nerve-fibre was visible. In agreement with this are the
observations of Masius and Van Lair, who cut out a portion of the
spinal cord in a frog, and observed the regenerated tissue after the
lapse of a month. It contained apolar, bipolar, and multipolar cells,
together with “corpuscles without processes, for the most part larger
than the cells, and appearing to be mere agglomerations of
granules,”—these latter I suppose to have been what I describe as
segmentations of the undeveloped substance. Gray fibres, with a
169
few varicose fibres, also appeared.
140. The admirable investigations of Franz Boll have given these
observations a new significance. He finds in the cerebral substance
of the chick on the third or fourth day of incubation a well-marked
separation between the neuroglia and nerve-tissue proper. Fig. 24,
A, represents three nerve-cells, each with its nucleus and nucleolus,
and each surrounded with its layer of neuroplasm. The other four
masses he regards as nuclei of connective tissue. Three days later
the distinction between the two is more marked (Fig. 24, B). Not
only have the nerve-cells acquired an increase of neuroplasm, they
also present indications of their future processes, which at the
twelfth day are varicose (Fig. 24, C). (All this while the connective
corpuscles remain unchanged.) Although Boll was unable to trace
one of these processes into nerve-fibres, he has little doubt that
they do ultimately become (unite with?) axis cylinders.
Fig. 24.—Embryonic nerve-cells.

Fig. 25.—Embryonic nerve-fibres.

 It is difficult to reconcile such observations with the hypothesis of
the cells being simply points of reunion of fibrils. We see here
multipolar cells before any fibrils appear. Respecting the
development of the white substance, i. e. the nerve-fibres, Boll
remarks that in the corpus callosum of the chick the first
differentiation resembles that of the gray substance.
The polygonal and spindle-shaped cells represented in Fig. 25, A,
are respectively starting-points of connective and neural tissues. The
spindle-shaped cells elongate, and rapidly become bipolar. This is
supposed to result in the whole cell becoming transformed into a
fibre, the nucleus and nucleolus vanishing; but the transformation is
so rapid that he confesses that he was unable to trace its stages; all
that can positively be asserted is that one or two days after the
appearance presented in Fig. 25, B, the aspect changes to that of
fibrils. The columns of polygonal cells between which run these
fibrils, he regards as the connective corpuscles described by several
anatomists in the white substance both of brain and cord, and which
170
are sometimes declared to be multipolar nerve-cells.
141. Dr. Schmidt’s observations on the human embryo were of
course on tissue at a very much later stage. According to him, the
fibrils of the axis cylinders are formed by the linear disposition and
consolidation of elementary granules. The fibrils thus formed are
separated by interfibrillar granules which in time become fibrils. Not
earlier than three months and a half does the formation of individual
axis cylinders begin by the aggregation of these fibrils into minute
171
bundles, which are subsequently surrounded by a delicate sheath.
142. With respect to the transition of the spindle-shaped cells into
fibrils, since there is a gap in the observations of Boll, and since
those of Schmidt are subsequent to the disappearance of the cells,
and in both cases all trace of nucleus has disappeared, I suggest
that we have here an analogy with what Weismann has recorded of
the metamorphoses of insects. In the very remarkable memoir of
172
that investigator it is shown that the metamorphoses do not take
place by a gradual modification of the existing organs and tissues,
but by a resolution of these into their elements, and a reconstruction
of their elements into tissues and organs. The muscles, nerves,
tracheæ, and alimentary canal, undergo what may be called a fatty
degeneration, and pass thence into a mere blastema. It is out of
these ruins of the old tissues that the new tissues are reconstructed.
On the fourth day the body of the pupa is filled with a fluid mass—a
plasma composed of blood and dissolved tissues. The subsequent
development is thus in all essential respects a repetition of that
173
which originally took place in the ovum.
Two points are especially noticeable: First, that in this resolved
mass of granules and fat globules there quickly appear large globular
masses which develop a fine membrane, and subsequently nuclei. A
glance at the figure 51 of Weismann’s plates reveals the close
resemblance to the earliest stages of nerve-cells; and the whole
process recalls the regeneration of nerves and nerve-centres after
their fatty degeneration.
Secondly, the nerves reappear in their proper places in the new
muscles, and this at a time when the nerve-centres are still
unformed; so that the whole peripheral system is completely rebuilt
in absolute independence of the central system. The idea, therefore,
that nerve-fibres are the products of ganglia must be relinquished.
This idea is further discountenanced by Boll’s observations, which
show that the fibre-cells are from the first different from the
ganglionic cells; and by the observations of Foster and Balfour, that
“fibres are present in the white substance on the third day of
incubation”; whereas cell processes do not appear until the eighth
day. Foster and Balfour are inclined to believe “that even on the
seventh day it is not possible to trace any connection between the
cells and fibres.” In the later stages, the connection is perhaps
174
established.
143. We may, I think, conclude from all this that in the higher
vertebrates the white substance of brain and cord is not the direct
product of the gray substance; in other words, that here nerve-
fibres, even if subsequently in connection with the ganglionic cells,
have an independent origin. They may grow towards and blend with
cell processes; they are not prolongations of those processes. They
may be identical in structure and property, as one muscle is identical
with another, but one is not the parent of the other.
144. Sigmund Mayer emphatically declares that in no instance has
he traced a cell process developed into a dark-bordered nerve-fibre.
The process, he says, may often be traced for a certain distance
alongside of a fibre; but it then suddenly ceases, whereas the fibre is
seen continuing its course unaltered. Still more conclusive is the
evidence afforded by nerves having only very few fibres (2–4
sometimes in the frog), which have, nevertheless, a liberal supply of
cells, visible without preparation. Valentin counted twenty-four cells
175
in a nerve which had but two fibres. Now although it is possible to
explain the presence of numerous fibres with rare cells either as due
to subdivisions of fibres, or to the fibres having cells elsewhere for
their origin, it is not thus that we can explain the presence of
numerous cells which have no fibres developed from their processes.
145. With regard to this observation of the cell process running
alongside of the fibre, the recent researches of Ranvier may throw
some light on it. He describes the cells in the spinal ganglia as all
unipolar; each single process pursues a more or less winding course
as a fibril, often blending with others, till it reaches one of the fibres
from the sensory root. It blends with this fibre at the annular
constriction of the fibre, becoming here incorporated with it, so that
176
a T-shaped fibre is the result. If this should be confirmed, it would
reconcile many observations; but it would greatly disturb all current
interpretations. Ranvier remarks that it is no longer tenable to
suppose that the ganglionic cell is a centre, sensory or motor,
receiving the excitation or sending forth a motor impulse; for if the
fibril issuing from a cell becomes laterally soldered to a nerve-fibre,
there is no possibility of saying in which direction this cell receives
the excitation, nor in which it transmits the impulse.
146. We have seen good reason to conclude that the essential
element of the nerve—the axis cylinder—is the same substance as
the neuroplasm which forms the essential element of the cell. At any
rate, we are quite certain that the cell process is neuroplasm. On
this ground there is no difficulty in understanding that a cell process
may sometimes be drawn out into an axis cylinder (as indeed we see
to be the case in the invertebrata and electric fishes); while again in
numerous other cases the nerve-fibre has an independent origin,
being, in short, a differentiation from the neuroplasm which has
become a fibre instead of a cell. It is clear from the observations of
Rouget on Development, and of Sigmund Mayer on Regeneration,
that fibres, nuclei, and cells become differentiated from the same
neuroplasm, those portions which are not converted into fibres
remaining first as lumps of neuroplasm, then acquiring a nucleus,
and some of these passing into cells. I mean that between fibres,
nuclei, and cells there are only morphological differences in an
177
identical neuroplasm. If this is in any degree true, it will not only
explain how fresh fibres may be developed in the course of fibres,
branching from them as from trunks, and branchlets from
branchlets, twigs from branchlets, the same conditions of growth
being present throughout; it will also completely modify the notion
of any physiological distinction between cell and fibre greater than
can be assigned to the morphological differences. We shall then no
longer suppose that the cell is the fountain whence the fibre draws
its nutrition and its “force”; and this will be equally the case even if
we admit that a cell is, so to speak, the germ from which a whole
plexus of fibres was evolved, for no one will pretend that the “force”
of an organism is directly derived from the ovum, or that the ovum
nourishes the organism.
147. At this stage of the discussion it is needful to consider a
point which will spontaneously occur to every instructed reader, I
mean the interesting fact discovered by Dr. Waller, that when a
sensory root was divided, the portion which was still in connection
with the ganglion remained unaltered, whereas the portion which
was only in connection with the spinal cord degenerated; and vice
versa, when a motor root was divided, the portion connected with
the cord remained unaltered, the portion severed from the cord
degenerated. The observation has been frequently confirmed, and
the conclusion drawn has been that the cells in the ganglion of the
posterior root are the nutritive centres of posterior nerves, the cells
in the anterior horn of the cord being the nutritive centres of the
anterior nerves. Another interpretation is however needed, the more
178
so because the fact is not constant. True of some nerves, it is not
true of others. Vulpian found that when he cut out a portion of the
lingual nerve, and transplanted it by grafting under the skin of the
groin, where of course it was entirely removed from all ganglionic
influence, it degenerated, but it also regenerated. Pathological
observations convinced Meissner that the ganglia are wholly
destitute of an influence on the nutrition of the vagus; and Schiff
proved experimentally that other ganglia were equally inoperative,
since motor nerves could be separated from the spinal cord without
179
degeneration. Not however to insist on this, nor on the other facts
of regeneration, in the absence of ganglionic influence, let us remark
that Dr. Waller’s examples would not be conclusive unless the
teaching of Embryology could be disproved. That nerves degenerate
when separated from ganglia is a fact; but it is also a fact that
muscles degenerate when separated from a nerve-centre; yet we do
not suppose the nerve-centre to nourish the muscles. And against
the fact that the sensory nerve remains unaltered only in that
portion which is connected with the ganglion, we must oppose the
180
observations of Kölliker and Schwalbe, who affirm that none of
the fibres which enter the posterior columns of the spinal cord have
any direct connection with the cells of the ganglion on the posterior
root. The cells of this ganglion they declare to be unipolar (in the
higher vertebrates), and the fibres in connection with these cells are
not those which pass to the cord, but all of them pass to the
periphery. According to Ranvier, the fibres from the cells join the
fibres of the posterior root. Schwalbe found that if the spinal nerve
be firmly grasped and steadily drawn, it will often be pulled from its
181
sheath, and the ganglion laid bare; in this ganglion all the cells
are found undisturbed, which could not be the case had fibres from
those cells entered the cord, since the traction would necessarily
have disturbed them.

RECAPITULATION.
148. At the opening of this chapter mention was made of the
besetting sin of the analytical tendency, namely, to disregard the
elements which provisionally had been set aside, and not restore
them in the reconstruction of a synthetical explanation. Familiar
experiences tell us that a stimulus applied to the skin is followed by
a muscular movement, or a glandular secretion; sometimes this
takes place without any conscious sensation; sometimes we are
distinctly conscious of the stimulus; and sometimes we consciously
will the movement. These facts the physiologist tries to unravel, and
to trace the complicated processes involved. The neurologist of
course confines himself exclusively to the neural processes; all the
other processes are provisionally left out of account. But not only so:
the analytical tendency is carried further, and even in the neural
process the organs are neglected for the sake of the nervous tissue,
and the nervous tissue for the sake of the nerve-cell. The
consequence has been that we have an explanation offered us which
runs thus:—
149. The nerve-cell is the supreme element, the origin of the
nerve-fibre, and the fountain of nerve-force. The cells are connected
one with another by means of fibres, and with muscles, glands, and
centres also by means of fibres, which are merely channels for the
nerve-force. A stimulus at the surface is carried by a sensory fibre to
a cell in the centre; from that point it is carried by another fibre to
another cell; and from that by a third fibre to a muscle: a reflex
contraction results. This is the elementary “nervous arc.” But this arc
has also higher arcs with which it is in connection: the sensory cell
besides sending a fibre directly to a motor cell, also sends one
upwards to the cerebral centres; and here again there is a nervous
arc, so that the cerebral centre sends down an impulse on the motor
cells, and the contraction which results is due to a volitional impulse.
The transmission of the stimulation which in the first case was purely
physical, becomes in the latter case psychical. The sensory
impression is in one cell transformed into a sensation, in another cell
into an idea, in a third cell into a volition.
150. This course is described with a precision and a confidence
which induces the inexperienced reader to suppose that it is the
transcript of actual observation. I venture to say that it is imaginary
from beginning to end. I do not affirm that no such course is
pursued, I only say no such course was ever demonstrated, but that
at every stage the requisite facts of observation are either
incomplete or contradictory. First, be it noted that the actions to be
explained are never the actions of organs so simple as the
description sets forth. It is not by single fibres and cells that the
stimulus is effected, but by complex nerves and complex centres.
Only by a diagrammatic artifice can the fibre represent the nerve,
and the cell the centre. In reality the cells of the centre (supposing
them to be the only agents) act in groups, and Anatomy should
therefore show them to be mutually united in groups—which is what
no Anatomy has succeeded in showing, unless the Neuroglia be
called upon. Secondly, be it noted that the current scheme of the
relations between cells and fibres is one founded on physiological
postulates, not on observation. Thirdly, much of what is actually
observed is very doubtful, because we do not know whether the
appearances are normal, or due to modes of preparation and post-
mortem changes. We cannot at present say, for instance, whether
the fibrillated appearance of cell contents and axis cylinder
represents the living structure or not. We may either suppose that
the neuroplasmic pulp splits longitudinally into fibres, or that
neuroplasmic threads resolve themselves into a homogeneous pulp—
the axis cylinder may be a condensation of many fibrils, or the fibrils
may be a resolution of the substance.
151. Let us contrast step by step the Imaginary Anatomy found in
the text-books with the Objective Anatomy as at present disclosed
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