Thames delight

Histophysiology' provided a concise and entertaining guide to the puzzles of this strange nucleus. Currently I am focused on the thalamus and sensory mechanisms; Lord Adrian's short book 'The Basis of Sensation' on sensory mechanisms, published in 1928, says nothing about the thalamus, but is a wonderful example of clear thought about, and a lucid presentation of, a difficult subject. What is the best advice you've been given? On completing my thesis I was expected — by family, friends, teachers — to complete the clinical part of my medical training. J.Z. Young advised me to continue with my research. He said that the next three years would be my most productive; I should not waste them learning skills I would not be using later. I was 24 at the time. He was right. If you knew earlier on what you know now, would you still pursue the same career/research path? 'Yes' to career, obviously 'no' to the research path because I would know the answers I had to work for so hard earlier. How wonderful to be able to start at 24 with the knowledge and techniques, produced by others, available now! What has been your biggest research mistake? Thinking I had found a syncytial stage in electron micrographs of the developing chick brain and preparing a letter to Nature before concluding that, in spite of appearances, there was something wrong with my method of fixation. Do you have a scientific hero? Any neuroanatomist who did not have Cajal at the top of the list would be suspect. Cajal can still inspire enthusiasm about the mysteries of the brain. He had a depth of knowledge that has not been rivalled since. But there are others, such as Kölliker, who are not far behind, and I myself carry a torch for Otto Deiters, my greatgrandfather's younger brother, who had, before he died at 29, published on muscles and the inner ear, had demonstrated axons and dendrites connected to nerve cells, and had revealed the structure of astrocytes. Cajal had a strong negative view of Deiters' position on the neuron doctrine, which was almost certainly based on a misunderstanding of what Deiters had written. This is an issue I would still like to explore further. What is your greatest research ambition? Just now it is to understand how to interpret the functional significance of the branching axons that carry messages to the …