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The Royal Society: Science in the Making

Paper, 'On the development of the cranial nerves of the newt' by Alice Johnson and Lilian Sheldon

Reference number: PP/8/8

Date: 1886

Description

Johnson and Sheldon write: 'The peripheral nervous system of the newt does not begin to develop until the medullary canal has become completely separate from the external epiblast. A neural ridge appears on the dorsal surface of the medullary canal, and, at regular intervals, paired lateral prolongations of it grow out and form the spinal and cranial nerves. The former grow down between the medullary canal and muscleplates, the original outgrowth, in each case, becoming the dorsal root, while the ventral root is formed later. In the head, where there are no muscle-plates, the nerves are situated nearer to the surface.'

Annotations in pencil and ink.

Subject: Zoology / Neuroscience

Received 14 January 1886. Read 28 January 1886. Communicated by Michael Foster.

A version of this paper was published in volume 40 of the Proceedings of the Royal Society as 'On the development of the cranial nerves of the newt'.

Reference number
PP/8/8
Earliest possible date
1886
Physical description
Ink and graphite pencil on paper
Page extent
5 pages
Format
Manuscript

Creator names

Alice Johnson

Lilian Sheldon

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Citation

Alice Johnson, Lilian Sheldon, Paper, 'On the development of the cranial nerves of the newt' by Alice Johnson and Lilian Sheldon, 1886, PP/8/8, The Royal Society Archives, London, https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/pp_8_8/paper-on-the-development-of-the-cranial-nerves-of-the-newt-by-alice-johnson-and-lilian-sheldon, accessed on 23 January 2026

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https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/pp_8_8/paper-on-the-development-of-the-cranial-nerves-of-the-newt-by-alice-johnson-and-lilian-sheldon

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  • Proceedings Papers

    The archival collection known as 'Proceedings Papers' is comprised of manuscripts and occasional proofs of scientific papers sent to the Royal Society which were read before meetings of Fellows and printed in full in the Proceedings of the Royal Society.

    Dates: 1882 - 1894

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