1872

Golgi’s chance discovery, published in 1873, of “Golgi Method,” i.e., staining by silver nitrate to reveal details of neuronal anatomy, including axonal branching: “. . . when mature nervous tissue was fixed in potassium dichromate for a prolonged time and then soaked in a weak solution of silver nitrate, a chemical reaction produced traces of silver chromate salts loosely deposited throughout the cytoplasm of some of the cells. . . the black silver chromate salts accumulated in only about 5 percent of the neurons . . .” (Rapport, 83-84).