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Neuroglia, or glia, has generally been regarded as a supporting tissue comparable to other organs. Boll, in 1874, was the first to show that neuroglia and connective tissue differ fundamentally in both development and staining reactions. Since then many papers have appeared on the subject of neuroglia. This book summarizes all of this work, including the author's own contributions to date. Two main forms of neuroglia are distinguished, the macroglia, consisting of two types of cells, protoplasmic and fibrous astrocytes, and the oligodendroglia and microglia.
Recent studies have shown that glial cells and fibers are not rigid structures with unalterable patterns, but that the microglia cells may change into ameboid elements and that macroglia can proliferate. Tissue cultures, according to Glees, "demonstrate motility of all cells cultivated from neural tissue. For this reason the static conception may not hold good for the living state, and glia cells, or at least