ABDOMINAL NEEVE3. 24:7 



retracted on itself and in a measure in repose." According 

 to the same author, irritation of the splanchnic nerves, while 

 it produces movements of the intestines, does not affect the 

 stomach. Judging from the tardy contraction of the stom- 

 ach and the analogy between the action of the pneumo- 

 gastrics upon this organ and the action of the sympathetic 

 nerves upon the non-striated muscular tissue, Longet assumes 

 that the motor action of the pneumogastrics is due, hot to the 

 proper filaments of these nerves, but to filaments derived from 

 the sympathetic system. " This interpretation removes the 

 singular physiological anomaly that an organ, the action 

 of which is entirely removed from the control of the will, 

 should depend upon a voluntary, or cerebro-spinal nerve." l 

 This explanation of the contradictory results of experiments 

 and of the mechanism of the action of the pneumogastrics 

 upon the stomach seems entirely satisfactory, and may be 

 accepted without reserve. 



Effects of Section of the Pneumogastrics upon the Move- 

 ments of the Stomach. If the pneumogastrics be divided in 

 the neck in a dog in full digestion, in which a gastric fistula 

 has been established so that the interior of the organ can be 

 explored, the following phenomena are observed : 



In the first place, before division of the nerves, the mu- 

 cous membrane of the stomach is turgid, its reaction is in- 

 tensely acid, and, if the finger be introduced through the 

 fistula, it will be firmly grasped by the contractions of the 

 muscular walls. When the pneumogastrics are divided, un- 

 der these conditions, the contractions of the muscular walls 

 instantly cease, the mucous membrane becomes pale, the 

 secretion of gastric juice is apparently arrested, and the sen- 

 sibility of the organ is abolished. 3 Paralysis of the stomach, 

 etc., had been noted, 3 long before the observations of Ber- 



1 LOXGET, Traiti de physiologic, Paris, 1869, tome iii., p. 546. 



2 BERNARD, Systems nerveux, Paris, 1858, tome ii., p. 422.. 



3 TIEDEMANN- ET GMELix, JKeckerches sur la digestion, Paris, 1827, premiere 

 partie, p. 373. 



