Some Aspects of the History of the Law of Dynamic Polarization of the Neuron. From William James to Sherrington, from Cajal and Van Gehuchten to Golgi

Abstract

William James was the first to suggest that propagation of impulses in the nervous system proceeds in one direction, from sensory to motor neurons, but not viceversa. His law of forward direction preceded the formulation of the law of dynamic polarization of van Gehuchten and Cajal, which assumed that nerve impulses are conducted cellulipetally along dendrites and cellulifugally along axons, based on different anatomo-functional properties of these neuronal components. Golgi did not accept the law of dynamic polarization because he believed that dendrites are involved in the nutrition of the neuron rather than in impulse propagation, and that impulses can travel in any direction in the axonal components of the diffuse nerve network. Sherrington in turn experimentally demonstrated that intraneuronic conduction is reversible, whereas, in accord with James's law, propagation of impulses along neuronal chains is irreversible, due to the valve-like action of synapses. The story of the law of dynamic polarization shows that neither Golgi nor Cajal paid much heed to Sherrington's findings and to neurophysiological studies in general, probably because they felt that histology alone could provide the key for understanding the general functioning of the nervous system. It is argued here that this attitude was detrimental to the progress of the neurosciences, because a multidisciplinary approach based on different techniques is inevitably called for in order to develop a plausible theory of the nervous system.