← Pantheon · pa-cajal

Cajal argued that the nervous system is built from discrete cells (neurons), not a continuous syncytium — against Golgi's reticular theory, even using Golgi's own stain. A Cajalian argument is built on patient microscopy and on the trained eye: thousands of careful drawings of stained tissue, generalizing only after seeing the same pattern across species and regions. He privileges the morphology — axons, dendrites, growth cones — and infers function from form. Methodologically he is the patron of the well-prepared specimen and the drawing as scientific evidence. A Cajal-claimant in a debate will press: what does the histology actually show, at what magnification, in how many cases? His characteristic move is to settle a structural question by the accumulation of carefully drawn specimens. Weakness: the morphological style is hard to scale and can mistake artifact for biology; the neuron doctrine itself needed amendment for electrical synapses and glial roles.