Literary Notices. ix 



shown to run much farther caudad than is usually supposed , extending 

 from the VII nucleus to the caudal end of the XII nucleus. No vagus 

 fibers are related to the nuclei (either dorsal or ventral) of the opposite 

 side. The nucleus ambiguus gives rise to no fibers for the XI nerve. 

 After intra-cranial section of the XI nerve no cells of the n. ambiguus 

 were degenerate, while the caudal portion of the dorsal vagus nucleus 

 exhibited many cells in chromatolysis. 



As to the physiological character of these nuclei, there can be no 

 question that the ventral nucleus is a nucleus of origin for motor root 

 fibers. Considerable evidence has been accumulating of late that the 

 dorsal nucleus is also motor, at least m part. This van Gehuchten is at 

 last able definitely to demonstrate by Golgi preparations of the nucleus 

 of the cat. The cells are different in form from those of the n. am- 

 biguus and doubtless have a different function, probably visceral, as 

 suggested by the recent work of Onuf and Collins. 



Where, then, is the sensory nucleus of the vagus ? To test this 

 Marchi's method was applied to the rabbit after section of the vagus 

 roots proximally of their ganglion. The degenerate fibers were found 

 to enter the fasiculus sohtarius and to course in it exactly like the gloss- 

 opharyngeal fibers, ending in the adjacent grey and in the commissural 

 nucleus of Cajal. 



Section of the IX nerve results in chromatolysis of a cluster of 

 cells which form the cephalo-mesal part of the nucleus ambiguus. 

 These constitute the motor IX nucleus. None of this motor root is 

 crossed. Marchi's method applied to the IX nerve of the rabbit shows 

 that all of the sensory fibers terminate in the nucleus of the fasiculus 

 solitarius. c. j. H. 



Tlie Central Oriisiii of the Vii^ns.' 



It is interesting to compare the last article referred to above with 

 this very similar research, which was also carried out upon rabbits with 

 Nissl's method. The operations reported upon are as follows : i. re- 

 section of the vagus in the neck, (a) above, (b) below the separation 

 of N. laryngeus superior; 2. resection of the vagus below the separa- 

 tion of the N. laryngeus inferior; 3. resection of the N. laryngeus su- 

 perior; 4. resection of the N. laryngeus inferior. 



There is a general agreement with van Gehuchten's results, with, 

 however, important differences. For instance, in the operations of the 



' Dr. E. Bunzl-Federn. Der centrale Ursprung cles N. Vagus. Mounts. 

 f. Psychiatrie u. Nettrologie, V, i, Jan. 1899. (This study continues the same 

 author's earlier paper on the spinal accessory nerve. Ibid., II, 6.) 



