THE invention of the micro-scope was just as powerful an aid to anatomy as the telescope was to astronomy. As shown in Nerve Endings, it led to the elucidation of the electrical system of the brain.
In the 18th century Luigi Galvani had proved that such a nervous system existed with his jerking frog’s legs, but it was a mystery how it worked. Richard Rapport, a neurosurgeon from Washington state, found an autobiography written by 19th-century Spanish anatomist Santiago Cajal, in a second-hand bookshop, and was transfixed.
Cajal was fascinated by the new microscope and its possibilities, made discoveries with…
