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"Brain, Incredible"
The top showdown of brain cells
-- The controversy between the theory of neurons and the theory of reticulation
Camilo Gorky
Santiago Ramón-Cajal
In the fall of 1960, the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, announced that the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine that year would be shared by two scholars. Then, on December 6, Camilo Gorky, a shy, introverted and taciturn 63-year-old neurologist and histologist from Italy, met for the first time with Santiago Ramón-Cajal, an enthusiastic and eloquent 54-year-old anatomist from Spain. Their first encounter was polite but not particularly warm. No one could have imagined that a few days later there would be an embarrassing "showdown of the top".
Camelot. Gorky with his cell staining technique
As early as the first half of the nineteenth century, it was already known that all living organisms – including humans – were made up of the basic unit of the cell. It stands to reason that the brain is also made up of a collection of many cells. Czech anatomist and physiologist Purkinje was the first to use a microscope to observe brain slices and found many nerve cells in the cerebellum, naming it "Purkinje cells". However, the so-called "Sumeru is a mustard seed", the brain, which weighs one and a half kilograms and is like a tender tofu-like organ, can actually imagine the infinite universe and solve difficult puzzles between lightning and flint. Obviously, there must be something unique about the way the cells of the brain interact with each other. Due to the limitations of "staining technology", there has been no way to observe the details of brain cells. At that time, scholars were just able to observe that brain cells were connected by "tentacles", but they could not see the details of these structures.
In 1873, at the age of thirty-four, Camilo . Dr. Gorky, who received a complete training in pathology and was full of great enthusiasm for the study of the nervous system, was not able to embark on the research route due to fate, but settled in the chronic disease sanatorium in Abbiategrasso, a small town near Milan, as the chief physician. In that hospital, there were no research labs or equipment. Gorky, who had great ambitions, served there.
Gorky's enthusiasm for research did not succumb to the real environment, and since he lacked the space and equipment to study, he set up a private research room in the kitchen of his dormitory, continuing his obsession with figuring out the nervous system. It was in this "field laboratory" that Gorky invented the revolutionary "black staining method" - the nerve tissue was now left in a potassium dichromate solution for many days, and then moved to a silver nitrate solution to be soaked. After a long period of contact between these two compounds, the wonderful compound silver chromate is produced, and the silver chromate will stain the dense tentacles of nerve cells into a clear and beautiful black. It is widely known in the scientific community that the discovery of this dyeing method was actually accidental. Gorky's laboratory was the kitchen, and once the cleaning lady saw the messy specimens on the counter and thought they were trash thrown into the trash can. This is how the unexpected reunion of potassium dichromate and silver nitrate happened. Gorky returned home and picked up the tissue and examined it under a microscope, and at first glance he couldn't believe it. He published his discovery in a paper with clear hand-drawn drawings, and since then scientists have entered a whole new realm of observation and study of nerve cells.
Gorky and previous researchers believed that nerve cells were not independent, but that their tentacles fused with each other to form an overall reticular structure. This claim came to be known as the "reticular theory." Later, Gorky used his own invention of silver chromate staining to carefully observe nerve cells, and found that many of the tentacles of these cells were free at the end, and did not appear to be fused with other tentacles, but it did not weaken his confidence in the network theory, but put forward a new theory to explain this phenomenon - those parts that are not fused are not particularly important, they may just be in charge of nerve nutrition, and the other more important tentacles must still be fused with each other. He also named the fusion network, the Diffuse Nervous Network.
Golgi-stained nerve cells
Santiago. Ramon Cajal and his theory of neurons
Although Cajal and Gorky lived in the same era, due to geographical and linguistic differences, it was not until 1887 when he visited Madrid that he saw a specimen of nerve tissue made by Gorky's staining method and Gorky's writings from a physician who had just returned from France. The way he felt when he saw them was, according to his own description, "shocked" and "enchanted".
He later put it this way:
On the clear background, black lines are presented, some thin and smooth, some thick and prickly, as clear as a Chinese ink painting on transparent paper. Just a glance left me dumbfounded, and my eyes could no longer take their eyes off the microscope.
Although Kajal is today revered as the "father of modern neuroscience", he had no intention of becoming a scientist at a young age. His biggest dream since childhood was to become a painter. But his father strictly forbade him to draw and forced him to go to medical school. Miraculously, the two things of medicine and art later had a wonderful effect on Cajal.
Although Cajal didn't really want to study medicine at first, when he actually embarked on the path of medicine, he became very interested in research, especially in the part of neuroscience. In 1884, at the age of 32, Cajal was a professor of anatomy at the University of Valencia, and he combined his two interests in painting and research, drawing many of the details observed under the microscope that could only be shared by hand. Cajal's drawings are outstanding in both scientific detail and artistic quality, and can become classics. To this day, anyone who wants to study the structure of nerve cells and tissues in a textbook will inevitably come across Cajal's masterpiece.
The Beauty of the Brain collects the atlas of neurons drawn by Cajal
At this moment, in addition to the network theory, the neuroscience community has added "the neuron doctrine" (the neuron doctrine). The central proposition of the neuronal theory is that each nerve cell is an individual, only close to each other and does not fuse, and that nerve signals are "skipped" by the ends of one neuron and transmitted to another. Of course, no one knew how this signal "jumped" at that time.
At the time, Cajal was in remote Spain and was not well known internationally, so his discoveries did not attract the attention of the scientific community at first. In 1888, he applied to join the German Anatomical Society and went to Berlin to share his work with contemporary scholars, and he became an internationally renowned neuroscientist. The results of his research have largely determined the understanding of the structure of the nervous system since then. Because of this, Cajal was later revered as the "father of modern neuroscience".
Take your guns and disarm you
The story of Gorky and Cajal can be summarized as follows: Cahar picked up Gorky's "gun" and then unceremoniously disarmed Gorky. At the 1906 Nobel Prize ceremony, Gorky delivered a speech entitled "The Neuron Theory: Theory and Facts" in front of a full house of scholars, launching a general attack on the neuronal theory, trying to resurrect and consolidate the outdated reticulated theory. And there are many inaccuracies in the outdated materials he cites, which is more like expressing subjective personal thoughts. Although Cajal was also present, he was very gracious and did not make a sound, but gave a lecture on "The Structure and Connection of Neurons" the next day. The atmosphere of the speech was relaxed and steady, and there was no intention of confrontation with Gorky at all, he just put forward the scientific discoveries and evidence of himself and other scholars one by one, and then gently pointed out the unreasonable points of the network theory. It can be said that through this Nobel Prize speech, Gorky personally pulled himself off the altar.
Let the facts speak for themselves
Some people may wonder why the same Nobel Prize can be shared by two people with completely opposite academic claims. They can't be right at the same time! In fact, the Nobel Prize rewards the laureates not for a single academic theory, but for their overall contribution to humanity. It is not uncommon for successive Nobel laureates to prove wrong after many years, but this does not detract from the fact that they are great scientists who have made outstanding contributions to mankind.
Even if Gorky had not invented the black dyeing method, his contributions to a large number of other academic achievements would have won him the Nobel Prize. His invention of the black staining method has enabled many neuroscientists, including Cajal, to unlock the secrets of nerve cells. If these scientists are "standing on the shoulders of giants", then Gorky is undoubtedly the giant. Therefore, his assertion of a certain theory is wrong, and it is simply a harmless subsection.
Gorky's real problem was the detailed structure of neurons, first putting his subjective opinion above objective evidence, and then sinking deeper and deeper into unnecessary insistence and face-saving problems, so that his aura as a great scientist was overshadowed. It is often said that we should "let the facts speak" and "let the evidence speak", and in the scientific field, this is the only constant golden rule.
Scientific research is not just about following the rules to explore some scientific questions, all problems come from daily life. I was pleasantly surprised to see this story, I once watched Cajal's "The Beauty of the Brain" and was amazed at how well he could combine science and art. After learning about his story, I was even more impressed by his charisma, that scientists should not only have rigorous and logical thinking, but also have an all-encompassing and pioneering spirit. If you don't like your current job or major, don't worry, maybe you'll find a combination of interest and work and become the person you really want to be.
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