WORK UPON VISCERAL AND ALLIED NERVES. 59 



employing his special plethysmographic method. He 

 showed that the rhythmic contractions of the spleen might 

 vary largely under different conditions. He obtained 

 powerful contractions of the organ on stimulation of either 

 splanchnic nerv^e and further differed from Bulgak in 

 obtaining marked splenic contractions on stimulating the 

 peripheral end of the cut vagus. 



Quite recently a paper has appeared by Schfifer and 

 Moore ^ in which this question is fully discussed. They 

 show that the rhythm of the splenic contractions is quite 

 independent of the nerves running to it though modified by 

 them. Stimulation of either splanchnic in both dogs and 

 cats produces a powerful contraction, better by the left 

 nerve than by the right. In one case weak stimulation of 

 the left splanchnic produced a dilation, whilst stronger and 

 more frequent stimulation of the same nerves produced the 

 ordinary contraction. In determining the outflow from the 

 spinal cord they showed that the fibres in the splanchnic 

 running to the spleen leave the cord in the anterior roots of 

 both sides from the third to fourteenth post-cervical 

 nerves inclusive. They are present in largest numbers in 

 the sixth, seventh and eighth, and in fair numbers in the 

 fifth, ninth and tenth. Of the similar roots of the opposite 

 sides those on the left side produce a more marked effect 

 than those on the right. In one case in a cat the same 

 result was obtained. These results are all the more decisive 

 in that they are able to obtain very sensitive records by 

 employing a specially devised plethysmograph that is much 

 simpler and more sensitive than Roy's instrument. They 

 further investigated by the employment of the nicotine 

 method as to whether there were any cells on the course 

 of these fibres. Doses of five milligrammes, in succession, 

 were administered by injection, and between each dose 

 the nerves were tested in three parts of their course, 

 in the anterior root, in the splanchnic, and at the hilum of 

 the spleen. They thus show that there is a cell station 

 which is easily paralysed by nicotine in the ganglia of the 



"^ Jour 71. of Physiol., vol. xx., p. i, 1896. 



