84 DR. BEALEj ON THE TISSUES. 



nective tissue series ; moreover, the lecturer must add in con- 

 nexion with this question that the branches of almost all, if 

 not of all, nerves near their termination partake of the cha- 

 racters of the gray, or gelatinous fibres."^ 



It must be borne in mind, that ganglia are much more 

 abundantly distributed in the body than is generally sup- 

 posed. Besides the well-known sympathetic ganglia, visible 

 to the unaided eye, microscopic ganglia of the same kind are 

 very numerous, and in many of the trunks of tlie nerve fibres 

 distributed to internal organs, small collections of ganglion 

 cells, and even a single cell, are not uncommonly seen. Con- 

 nected with the fibres in the palate of the frog are numerous 

 ganglion cells, and several have been observed in connexion 

 with the nerves distributed to the vessels of the same animal. 

 They are found in the nerves distributed to all the viscera. 



Dr. Beale's researches on this subject are not yet suffi- 

 ciently extensive, to enable him to express himself positively 

 on this point ; but he thinks they will prove that the only 

 fibres connected with these round or oval ganglion cells of 

 the sympathetic system are the gray, or gelatinous, fibres. 

 The lecturer has already shown that the oval nuclei are more 

 abundant in fibres of which the trunks of the sympathetic are 

 composed, than in other nerve fibres. Arguing from the 

 inference deduced from observations upon the distribution of 

 the nuclei in nerves generally, that they are the structures 

 by which nerves are brought into relation with other tissues, 

 the grey filjres and ganglia connected with them must be 

 regarded as belonging to a nervous system which forms a 

 complicated network, the branches of which extend to every 

 part of the body, and which contains numerous centres pre- 

 siding over the action of certain parts, but connected viith 

 other centres of this system in such a manner that the action 

 of the whole is harmonised. Many of the sympathetic ganglia 

 are connected with the cerebro-spinal system of nerves, but 

 perhaps not so that the sympathetic can be said to arise from 

 any part as from a centre. The experiments of Budge and 

 Waller, and others, however, favour this view. Dr. Beale be- 

 lieves that from any part of one of the grey fibres, branches 

 may grow which will place the parts to which it is distributed 

 under the influence of the ganglia with which the nerves are 

 connected. For instance, suppose a certain number of these 

 fibres distributed to an artery, which gradually becomes 

 larger, and from which an increasing number of branches 

 proceeds. Every one of these will be supplied "vvith nerve 



* On the Distribution of Nerves to the Voluntary Muscles. (' Phil. 

 Trans./ 1860.) 



