AUTHOR’S ABSTRACT OF THIS PAPER ISSUED 
BY THE BIBLIOGRAPHIC SERVICE, APRIL 11 
NERVE TERMINATIONS IN THE LUNG OF THE 
RABBIT! 
O. LARSELL 
Department of Zoology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 
FIFTEEN FIGURES 
The innervation of the mammalian lung appears to be little 
understood by either anatomists or physiologists. The average 
text-book description states that the lungs receive their nerve 
supply from the sympathetic system by way of the pulmonary 
plexuses, and that the vagus nerve also contributes fibers. 
- Usually references, more or less vague, are made to motor termi- 
nations in the bronchial musculature and in that of the pulmonary 
artery, and also to. sensory terminations in the parenchyma of 
the lung. Physiologists have evidence for the presence of both 
sensory and motor fibers in the bronchi and their branches, 
but concerning the vasomotor control of the pulmonary circu- 
lation they have obtained discordant results. 
It was with the hope of throwing further light on this subject 
that the present investigation was undertaken at the suggestion 
of Dr. W. 8. Miller, to whom the writer is greatly indebted for 
assistance with difficult points of the anatomy of the lung. 
The general problem undertaken has to do with the distribu- 
tion and arrangement, as well as the source, of the nerve fibers 
which enter the lung, in addition to the types of nerve termi- 
nations and the position of the latter within the organ. A 
description of the fibers, their origin and the relation of the 
intrapulmonary ganglia is reserved for a subsequent report, 
and these points will be touched upon at present only to the 
extent necessary to make clear the relations of the various 
sensory and motor terminations which are described. 
1 Contribution from the Anatomical Laboratory of the University of Wiscon- 
sin and the Zoélogical Laboratory of Northwestern University. 
105 
