The first illustration by Camillo Golgi showing a network of neurons found in the olfactory bulb of a dog. Golgi has invented a method, now called Golgi-stain, which is used to image neurons in different tissues. Golgi-stain is based on reaction between potassium dichromate and silver nitrate, which leads to silver chromate being deposited on cell membranes and giving them dark colour. Only random and relatively few neurons are stained at a time, allowing to distinguish single cells, which are part of dense and complicated neuronal networks. Golgi has described his technique in 1873 and it provided one of the strongest evidence at that time to prove that neurons are the building blocks of the nervous system. Golgi, together with Santiago Ramón y Cajal, was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1906 “in recognition of their work on the structure of the nervous system”.
Image source
