A STUDY OF GANGLION CELLS IN THE SYMPATHETIC 

 NERVOUS SYSTEM, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE 

 TO INTRINSIC SENSORY NEURONES 



F. \V. CARPENTER AND J. L. CONEL 



From the Zoological Laboratory, University of Illinois,^ and from the Biological 

 Laboratory of Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut 



TWENTY-TWO FIGURES 



The existence in the sympathetic nervous system of intrinsic 

 sensory neurones — that is, afferent neurones whose cell-bodies 

 lie in autonomic ganglia — is still one of the unsettled questions 

 of neurology. The conflicting statements found in present day 

 textbooks of human anatomy reflect the lack of agreement on 

 this point among investigators. On the one hand it is held, in 

 conformity with the views of Kolliker and Langley, that all 

 afferent fibers present in the sympathetic nerves are the peripheral 

 processes of neurones whose cell-bodies are found in the spinal 

 ganglia. Such special dorsal-root neurones are believed to send 

 their processes via the rami communicantes into the sympathetic 

 trunks, where they meet with and accompany the efferent post- 

 ganglionic fibers to their distribution in tissue under control of 

 the autonomic system. The opposing view, supported by Dogiel, 

 while not necessarily denying the presence of afferent cerebro- 

 spinal fibers, recognizes in the sympathetic mechanism sensory 

 neurones which belong primarily to that system. These have 

 their trophic centers in the various autonomic ganglia. Their 

 peripherally directed processes terminate in sensory endings in 

 the viscera, etc.; their centrally directed processes pass through 

 rami communicantes into the ganglia of the dorsal nerve roots, 

 and here form terminal arborizations about the spinal ganglion 



^ Contributions from the Zoological Laboratory, University of Illinois, under 

 the direction of Henry B. Ward, No. 30. 



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