SOME HISTOLOGIC FEATURES OF THE CRANIAL NERVES

Abstract

In a previous contribution,¹some mention was made of the fact that, histologically, the eighth cranial or acoustic nerve was composed of two different portions or segments. These have been described before and were accurately named by Henschen,²in 1915, as the glial and non-glial portions of the nerve. The fact that glial tissue extends into the cranial nerve trunks has been noted by other observers from time to time in the case of one or the other of the cranial nerves, although very little detailed information concerning this peculiar glial outspread appears to be available in the literature. The object of the present study has been to investigate the cranial nerves from this standpoint. With this general motive in mind, four principal objectives were outlined: (1) the determination of the amount of glial outspread into the various nerve trunks; (2) the determination of the types of glia