1232 



number of nerve endings that reminded me of those described by Boeke 

 as "accessory". This state of affairs compelled me, before continuing 

 the segmental investigations mentioned above, to attempt to answer 

 the question : "Are the cross-striated muscle fibres of the extremities 

 also innervated sj'mpatheticallj?", and in addition, in case the 

 question could be answered positively, to study in somewhat more 

 detail the terminal organs of these nerves in the extremity-muscu- 

 lature. 



There were really two ways in which I could set about answering 

 this question, I could either bring all the spinal nerves in the 

 extremities into degeneration, taking care that all the sympathetic 

 nerves to the extremities remained intact, or else I could bring the 

 sympathetic nerves into degeneration while the spinal ones were 

 left intact. 1 chose both methods, so that I might possibly arrive at 

 results that agreed with each other and that were therefore so much 

 more certain. 



In order to bring into degeneration the sympathetic nerves of the 

 extremity the ganglion stellatum of one side was extirpated in two 

 cats. The cats were kept alive for a few days (four and six respec- 

 tively) after the operation. In sections of /^-impregnated extremity- 

 muscles from the animal in which degeneration had proceeded farthest 

 I was successful in showing the lemains of degenerated nerves that 

 were without medullary sheaths. 1 shall give a moie detailed account 

 of this part of the investigation in a more complete description. I 

 shall enter here into somewhat more detail about the other part, i.e. 

 the bringing into degeneration of the spinal nerves, taking care that 

 the sympathetic ones remained intact. 



I cut off the last four cervical and the first two thoracal nerves 

 in the foramina interverlebralia of several cats. The sections were 

 made between the ganglion spinale and the place where the ramus 

 communicans albus goes off. The wounds were sutured and began 

 to heal per primam intent. The animals were killed after different 

 periods of time varying from five to ten days after the operation. 

 The animal from which were taken the preparations, on which the 

 following description is based, was killed five days after the operation. 

 On account of the operations that had been carried out it could 

 thus be assumed that after a sufficient length of time degenei-ation 

 would occur — peripherically of the place of the section — in 

 the spinal nerve fibi-es of the segmental nerves that had been cut 

 off and also in their pre-ganglionar sympathetic nerves. On the other 

 hand there was reason to expect that the post-ganglionar sympathetic 

 nerves were kept intact. The shortest of the periods of degeneration 



