1906

Golgi and Cajal first two histologists to win Nobel Prize (Rapport, 160ff.). After winning Nobel Prize, Cajal, applying the recently discussed reduced silver nitrate method, which revealed the neurofibrillar character of the nerve cell, turned to the regeneration of severed peripheral nerves, recognizing that the debate over it – Did the regenerated axons link up with the distal part of the nerve, or did the new axonal growth from the proximal stump cross the gap and go down the distal segment of the severed nerve under trophic influences? – “had important implications for the normal development of the nervous system and for any hopes of promoting regeneration in the injured central nervous system” (Jones, 174). Cajal proved the latter; he “was not alone in revealing the histological basis of peripheral nerve repair. But it was he who clearly derived from it the underlying biological mechanisms that governed this process, and who foresaw their relevance to the development of the nervous system and to any hope of promoting regeneration of the injured central nervous system” (177).