Re: Animal Spirits to Molecular Mechanisms
To the group: The following from an article by Mary A. B. Brazier is of general interest, and may be of particular interest to the author of the forth coming book, Nerve: From Animal Spirits to Molecular Mechanisms. "... Muller published ... it [apparently this refers to the publication in his - Muller's journal - findings against network theory discovered by his student, Remark} in his journal together with Remak's description of a "primitive band," within the fiber (what later was to be known as the axis cylinder). Remak's "primitive band" was not immediately accepted and only later and after visiting Remak did Purkyne recognize (and name) the axis cylinder as a structure [the references to the Purkinge publication naming the axon, appears to be *before* the publication of Remak's paper in Muller's journal, as given in Brazier's article??]. Brazier continues, and this is the *point*, "This contribution of Remak's *is really a turning point*, since, *by demonstrating more clearly than had Fontana, it ruled out once and for all the ancient Galenic concept of the core of the nerve fiber constituting a hollow channel for a nervus fluid.* [Emphasis Added] Brazier continues, "But the opposition was severe, especially from Valentin and Henle, both of whom eventually relented, but not until the 1840's when the evidence became overwhelming. Valentin had undertaken the unusual course of founding a quarterly journal to publish solely his own work. This was called the Reportortium fur Anatomie und Physiologie and it is in volume 7, published in 1842, that we find his acceptance of Remak's axis cylinder." Architectonics of the Cerebral Cortex, edited by M. A. B. Brazier and H. Persche, Raven Press, 1978, p. 12-13 So it seems (according to Brazier) that a firm acceptance of a 'solid' (of solid-like: given mid to late 19th century microscopy)was a principle advance undermining nervous fluids - and perhaps animal spirits!? Is this a well recognized conceptual development in the history of neuroscience? Andy Lautin NYU Medical School