Charles Sherrington named the synapse in 1897, showed that reflexes integrate excitation and inhibition, and gave neuroscience the idea of the nervous system as an integrator.
History of Neuroscience
Intermediate
Sherrington and the Synapse
The Editors
June 18, 2026
2 min read
In plain English
The British physiologist Charles Sherrington studied reflexes in animals and realised that the junctions between neurons must do important work — adding up 'go' and 'stop' signals. He named those junctions 'synapses'.
Intermediate level: Builds on the basics. Introduces the real vocabulary and the mechanisms behind it.
Concepts to know first
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If neurons are separate cells, something special must happen where they meet. The English physiologist Charles Scott Sherrington (1857–1952) studied that meeting point without ever being able to see it.
Naming the synapse
In 1897, writing a chapter for a physiology textbook, Sherrington needed a word for the junction between neurons. He proposed synapse, from the Greek for "to clasp together" (the suggestion came via a classicist friend). The name stuck.
What reflexes reveal
Sherrington studied spinal reflexes in cats and dogs and found they behave in ways a simple wire could not explain. Reflexes take slightly longer than conduction along nerves alone would predict — suggesting a delay at each synapse. Weak stimuli that do nothing alone can trigger a response when repeated or combined — summation. And crucially, the nervous system uses inhibition as well as excitation: when one muscle contracts, its opponent is actively relaxed (reciprocal innervation), so your knee straightens smoothly instead of fighting itself.
The integrative action of the nervous system
His 1906 book The Integrative Action of the Nervous System argued that the nervous system's essential job is integration — combining many inputs, excitatory and inhibitory, into one coordinated output. He described the motor neuron as the "final common path" on which many signals converge.
Sherrington shared the 1932 Nobel Prize with Edgar Adrian, who had recorded the electrical impulses of single nerve fibres and shown that stronger stimuli produce more frequent impulses rather than bigger ones. Sherrington also coined the term "proprioception" for the body's sense of its own position.
Everyday examples & things to try
Try it
Reciprocal inhibition in your arm
Bend your elbow and feel your biceps tighten while your triceps on the back of the arm goes soft. Your spinal cord is automatically telling the opposing muscle to relax — the inhibition Sherrington discovered.
Key takeaways
- Sherrington coined 'synapse' in 1897.
- Reflexes show synaptic delay, summation and active inhibition.
- He described the nervous system's core job as integrating many inputs into coordinated action.
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