Part of a section of the spinal cord stained by the Weigert-Pal method and viewed under a high power. It demonstrates the essential difference between white and grey matter in the central nervous system. White matter is made up of densely packed bundles of myelinated fibres. The myelin sheaths are stained black by the haemotoxylin used in the Weigert-Pal method. Many are seen cut across, showing their tubular character. The axons which are contained within the sheaths are unstained. Grey matter consists mainly of nerve cells and unmyelinated fibres, but, as the section and photographs show, even grey matter contains scattered myelinated fibres. But they are too sparse to show up distinctly to the naked eye. The photograph is at a magnification of X 111. 

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