STUDIES ON THE SYMPATHETIC NERVOUS SYSTEM 311 
b. Cardiac thoracicolumbar pathway. 
Preganglionic neurones. Cells in the intermedio- 
lateral column of the spinal cord, fibers by way of the 
upper white rami and the sympathetic trunk to the 
superior, middle, and inferior cervical ganglia. 
Postganglionic neurones. Cells in the cervical ganglia 
of the sympathetic trunk, fibers by way of the correspond- 
ing cardiac nerves to the musculature of the heart. 
Function—cardiac acceleration. 
4. Paths for the efferent innervation of the musculature of the 
stomach exclusive of the sphincters. 
a. Gastric craniosacral pathway. 
Preganglionic neurones. Cells in the dorsal motor 
nucleus of the vagus, fibers by way of the vagus nerve to 
end in the intrinsic ganglia of the stomach. 
Postganglionic neurones. Cells in the intrinsic gas- 
tric ganglia, fibers to end on the gastric musculature. 
Function—excites peristalsis. 
b. Gastric thoracicolumbar pathway. 
Preganglionic neurones. Cells in the intermedio- 
lateral column of the spinal cord, fibers by way of the 
white rami from the 5th or 6th to the 12th thoracic 
nerves, through the sympathetic trunk without inter- 
ruption, and along the splanchnic nerves to the coeliac 
ganglion where they end. 
Postganglionic neurones. Cells in the coeliac gan- 
glion, fibers by way of the coeliac plexus and its offshoots 
to the stomach to end on the musculature of the stomach. 
Function—inhibits peristalsis. 
It will be noted that the organs receive a double autonomic 
innervation and that the impulses transmitted along the cranio- 
sacral pathways are usually antagonistic to those transmitted 
along the thoracicolumbar paths. 
The afferent innervation of the viscera. General visceral 
afferent fibers are found in the IX and X cranial nerves and in 
the spinal nerves. Their cells of origin are located in the cere- 
brospinal ganglia. The fibers run through the sympathetic 
