<P> Santiago Ramón y Cajal proposed that neurons are not continuous throughout the body , yet still communicate with each other , an idea known as the neuron doctrine . The word `` synapse '' -- from the Greek synapsis ( συνάψις ) , meaning `` conjunction '' , in turn from συνάπτεὶν ( συν ( `` together '' ) and ἅπτειν ( `` to fasten '' ) ) -- was introduced in 1897 by the English neurophysiologist Charles Sherrington in Michael Foster 's Textbook of Physiology . Sherrington struggled to find a good term that emphasized a union between two separate elements , and the actual term `` synapse '' was suggested by the English classical scholar Arthur Woollgar Verrall , a friend of Michael Foster . Some authors generalize the concept of the synapse to include the communication from a neuron to any other cell type , such as to a motor cell , although such non-neuronal contacts may be referred to as junctions ( a historically older term ) . </P>
who discovered that neural communication between cells occurs through chemicals
Charles Sherrington