HuBER, Sympathetic Nervous System. 123 



paralyze the motor nerve-ending in skeletal muscle and both 

 (according to Langley) paralyze the sympathetic cells. They 

 differ in their action in so far that nicotin paralyzes the sympa- 

 thetic cells more readily than does curare, while curare para- 

 lyzes the motor nerve-ending more readily than does nicotin. 

 (Other minor differences need not here be mentioned.) Taking 

 these facts into consideration, it would seem to us more reason- 

 able to say that since curare and nicotin paralyze the ending 

 of a motor fiber in skeletal muscle, they paralyze also ( reason- 

 ing from analogy) the ending of the central, cerebro-spinal 

 fibers in the ganglia, i. e. , the end-baskets and not sympathetic 

 nerve cells. 



In other words, nicotin and curare paralyze in both in- 

 stances the end-brush of the cerebro-spinal fiber, which in stri- 

 ated muscle ends under the sarcolemma ; in the sympathetic 

 ganglia this end-brush is woven into a basket-like structure, the 

 intra-capsular, peri-cellular basket. Ehrlich (4), in his first 

 communication on the action of methylen-blue on living nerve 

 tissues, draws attention to the similarity in structure between 

 the end-baskets and the ending in voluntary muscle, and adds : 

 " I think these phenomena ( resemblance in structure and the 

 fact they both stain readily in methylen-blue ) may be of im- 

 portance to physiology and pharmacology, as it is very proba- 

 ble that the end basket may localize poisons, other than methy- 

 len-blue, and may therefore be locally paralyzed like the ending 

 in striated muscle." 



By way of summary, I shall reproduce briefly the argu- 

 ments, which seem to indicate that the central fibers are of 

 cerebro-spinal origin and end in sympathetic ganglia. I 

 shall for this purpose select the ciliary ganglion and the nerves 

 in connection with it. 



It is well known that the ciliary ganglion receives fibers 

 from the Ilird and Vth cranial nerves and probably also sym- 

 pathetic fibers, and from it the short ciliary nerves, 6 to 10 in 

 number, pass to the ciliary body and iris. Stimulation of the 

 third nerve causes, among other things, closure of the pupil 



