525 
GASKELL ’86 working with osmic acid preparations of the dog’s 
vagus found that there were few medullated fibers in its thoracic 
trunk and still fewer as it went through the diaphragm. He correctly 
interpreted the large areas of unstained tissue separating the medullated 
fibers as bundles of non-medullated axons. 
MoLHANT using the Casan stain on the trunk of the vagus in 
the rabbit was able to see some of these non-medullated axons. He 
supposed that they were of sympathetic origin. In the dog the vagus 
and sympathetic trunks are contained within a single connective 
tissue sheath in the neck, and were studied together in serial sections. 
As a result of this study of serial sections it can be said that few 
if any of the non-medullated fibers of the vagus are derived from 
the sympathetic. They belong properly to the vagus, are present in 
its roots and constitute the overwhelming majority of the fibers in 
that nerve as it enters the abdomen. 
References. 
CHase, M. R., and Ranson, 8. W., The structure of the roots, trunk and 
branches of the vagus nerve. Jour. Comp. Neur., Vol. 24, p. 31, 1914. 
Houser, G. C., and Gurtp, 8. R.. Observations on the peripheral distribution 
of the nervus terminalis in Mammalia. Anat. Record, Vol. 7, p. 253, 1913. 
GaskELL, W. H., On the structure, distribution and function of the nerves 
which innervate the visceral and vascular systems. Jour. Phys. London, 
Vol. 7, p. 19, 1886. 
Motuant, M., Le nerf vague. Le Nevraxe, Vol. 11, p. 137, 1910. 
Ranson, 8. W., Non-medullated nerve fibers in the spinal nerves. Am. Jour. 
Anat., Vol. 12, p. 67, 1911. 
Ranson, 8. W., The fasciculus cerebro-spinalis in the albino rat. Am. Jour. 
Anat., Vol. 14, p. 411, 1913. 
Ranson, S. W., The course within the spinal cord of the non-medullated 
fibers of the dorsal roots: A study of Lissauer’s tract in the cat. Jour. 
Comp. Neur., Vol. 23, p. 259, 1913. 
