“I am Happy to have Found a New Reaction”: a Century After the Death of Camillo Golgi, the Letter Announcing the Development of the “Black Reaction”

Abstract

A century after the death of Camillo Golgi, we publish the transcription and a critical commentary of a letter he wrote in February 1873 to his friend Nicolò Manfredi. In this letter, he announced for the first time the development of the reazione nera (black reaction), the histological staining technique that allowed for the observation of the nerve cells’ silhouette and had a revolutionary impact on the development of neuroscience. The adoption of this technique by illustrious scientists such as Albert von Kölliker and Santiago Ramón y Cajal marked the beginning of a new era in neuroanatomical research, culminating in Golgi being awarded the Nobel Prize in 1906.