The purpose of this article is two-fold: first, to preserve, in updated English translations, two theoretical papers written by Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1852-1934) in 1895 and 1896 under the titles, "Conjectures on the anatomical mechanism of ideation, association and attention" and "Conjectural interpretations of certain points in neurological histophysiology"; and second, to set some of the ideas proposed by Cajal in a modern perspective. In his "Conjectures," Cajal ventured to explain the mechanisms of perception, association and attention in cellular terms. He introduced the term "impression unit," which would propagate, leading to conscious act via an "avalanche of conduction." Additionally, he attributed mental repose and sleep to morphological variations of neuroglia; at times of relaxation, astrocytes would grow appendices that penetrated among nerve cell connections and blocked the conduction of the "nervous current"; in energetic contraction, such glial "pseudopodia" would shrink, allowing neuronal processes to come into contact again. In the sequel to the "Conjectures," Cajal presented strong arguments defending the neuron theory against the reticular theory. Moreover, he discussed the functional differentiation of spinal motor neurons and cortical pyramidal cells, which respectivly subserve movement and consciousness, despite their morphological similarity.

中文翻译：

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“观念、联想和注意力的解剖机制”[1895] 和“神经组织生理学的某些观点”[1896]：Cajal 的猜想，当时和现在

这篇文章的目的有两个：首先，在更新的英文译本中保留圣地亚哥·拉蒙·伊·卡哈尔（Santiago Ramón y Cajal，1852-1934）在 1895 年和 1896 年撰写的两篇理论论文，标题为“关于构思的解剖机制的猜想” 、联想和注意”和“神经组织生理学中某些观点的推测性解释”；其次，将卡哈尔提出的一些想法放在现代的角度。在他的“猜想”中，卡哈尔冒险用细胞术语解释感知、联想和注意力的机制。他引入了“印象单元”一词，它会传播，通过“传导雪崩”导致有意识的行为。此外，他将精神休息和睡眠归因于神经胶质细胞的形态变化。放松的时候，星形胶质细胞会生长出贯穿神经细胞连接之间的阑尾，阻断“神经电流”的传导；在能量收缩时，这种神经胶质“伪足”会收缩，使神经元过程再次接触。在“猜想”的续集中，卡哈尔提出了强有力的论据，为神经元理论辩护，反对网状理论。此外，他还讨论了脊髓运动神经元和皮质锥体细胞的功能分化，尽管它们的形态相似，但它们分别促进运动和意识。允许神经元过程再次接触。在“猜想”的续集中，卡哈尔提出了强有力的论据，为神经元理论辩护，反对网状理论。此外，他还讨论了脊髓运动神经元和皮质锥体细胞的功能分化，尽管它们的形态相似，但它们分别促进运动和意识。允许神经元过程再次接触。在“猜想”的续集中，卡哈尔提出了强有力的论据，为神经元理论辩护，反对网状理论。此外，他还讨论了脊髓运动神经元和皮质锥体细胞的功能分化，尽管它们的形态相似，但它们分别促进运动和意识。