CH. XVII.] OBJECT OF AUTONOMIC GANGLIA 203 



Adopting Gaskell's nomenclature, we may term the accelerator 

 groups of nerves katabolic, because they increase the activity of the 

 muscles they supply, bringing about an increase of wear and tear 

 and an increase in the discharge of waste materials, the products of 

 their activity. The inhibitory nerves, on the other hand, are ana- 

 bolic, as they produce a condition of rest in the tissues they supply, 

 and so give an opportunity for repair, or constructive metabolism. 



As a general rule, though there are exceptions to it, the cell- 

 stations of the anabolic nerves are in collateral or terminal ganglia, 

 whereas the cell-stations for katabolic nerves are in the lateral chain, 

 or in some cases in collateral ganglia. 



Our descriptions and diagrams have further shown us that post- 

 ganglionic fibres are more numerous than pre-ganglionic fibres, and 

 this brings us to the main object served by the ganglia on the 

 autonomic nerves. Nature has, as it were, before her the problem 

 of supplying with nerves the vast mass of muscles in the body, and 

 the space at her command in the various exits from the cranium 

 and spinal canal does not allow of more than a comparatively small 

 outflow from the central nervous system. 



The difficulty is met to some extent by the branching of the out- 

 flowing nerve-fibres, and in the case of the voluntary muscles this 

 appears to be sufficient. The most striking example of this can be 

 seen in the electrical organ of the Malapterurus, where the millions 

 of its subdivisions on each side of the body are all supplied by the 

 branches of a single axis cylinder process originating from a single 

 giant nerve-cell in the brain. 



But in the case of the involuntary muscular tissue there is an 

 additional means of distribution, for each fibre that leaves the 

 central nervous system arborises around a number of cells in the 

 autonomic ganglia, and thus the impulse is transferred to a large 

 number of new axis cylinder processes. 



The name sympathetic was originally bestowed on the system of 

 nerves we are considering, because the ganglia were believed to be 

 the centres for reflex actions, or sympathetic actions as they were 

 formerly designated. 



During their work on autonomic nerves Langley and Anderson 

 have once more investigated this ancient question, but the only 

 instances where such a thing seemed possible were the following : 

 When all the nervous connections of the inferior mesenteric ganglion 

 are divided except the hypogastric nerves, stimulation of the central 

 end of one hypogastric causes contraction of the bladder, the efferent 

 path to which is the other hypogastric nerve. But the action is 

 not truly reflex; it is caused by the stimulation of the central 

 ends of motor-fibres which issue from the spinal cord, and which 

 after passing through the ganglion send branches down each 



