MINUTE STRUCTURE OF THE RETINA IN MONKEYS AND IN APES

Abstract

The anatomy of the eye in general, and the fine structure of the photoreceptive membrane, the retina, in particular, was the object of keen interest from the very beginning of modern histologic investigation. It was rightly judged that the knowledge of this is one of the principal roads leading to the understanding of the all-important function of vision. This interest was even more enhanced after it was found that the retina was a derivative of the central nervous system. By studying it there was hope to lift the veil behind which the secrets of the minute organization of the nervous system hid. It is not astonishing, therefore, if among early and later students of the retina one finds such names as Ehrenberg, Treviranus, Remak, Valentin, Bidder, Hannover, Brücke, Corti, Bowman, Kölliker, H. Müller, M. Schultze, Merkel, Schwalbe, Bird and Schäfer. However, not before Tartuferi applied the method of