GREAT SYMPATHETIC. 93 



of brain and nerves ; the brain being composed of small globules sus- 

 pended in a transparent elastic jelly; the nerves made up of single 

 rows of globules, and the ganglions, consisting of a congeries of nervous 

 fibres compacted together. 1 Volkmann and Bidder, and Reichert, 2 

 consider the sympathetic nerve-fibres to be distinct in size and structure 

 from the cerebro-spinal ; but Valentin maintains there is no difference. 

 Authors are by no means agreed with regard to the uses of these gan- 

 glions. Willis, 3 Haller, 4 and others, considered them to be small brains 

 for the secretion of the nervous fluid or animal spirits ; an opinion, 

 which has been embraced by Richerand, 5 and Cuvier; 6 the latter of 

 whom remarks, that the ganglia are larger and more numerous when 

 the brain is deficient in size. Lancisi, 7 and Vicq d'Azyr, regarded 

 them as a kind of heart for the propulsion of these spirits, or as reser- 

 voirs for keeping them in deposit. Scarpa 8 treats them as synonymous 

 with plexuses ; but plexuses with the filaments in close approximation ; 

 and plexuses he regards as ganglions, the filaments of which are more 

 separated. He consequently believes, with many physiologists, that 

 their office is to commingle and unite various nervous filaments with 

 each other. Dr. Wilson Philip 9 thinks, that they are secondary sources 

 of nervous influence ; that they receive supplies of it from all parts of 

 the brain and spinal marrow, and transmit the united influence to the 

 organs to which the nerves are distributed ; whilst some conceive, that 

 at least one office is to communicate irritability to the tissues. 10 John- 

 stone, 11 Reil, 12 Bichat, 13 and others, are of opinion that their use is to 

 render the organs, which derive their nerves from them, independent of 

 the will. 



These views are sufficiently discordant ; and well indicate the intrinsic 

 obscurity of the subject. That of Dr. Philip is the most probable. 

 Containing the vesicular or gray matter, which seems to be everywhere 

 concerned in the production of nerve-power, the ganglia may be re- 

 garded as agents of nervous reinforcement ; although we may remain 

 uncertain as to the mode in which their office is executed. 14 It is affirmed 



1 See, on the Histology of the Organic or Sympathetic Nervous Fibres, Mr. Paget, Brit, and 

 For. Med. Rev., July, 1842, p. 279. 



2 Muller's Archiv., 1844, cited by Mr. Paget, in Brit, and For. Med. Rev., April, 1845, p. 

 572. 



3 Cerebri Anatome, cui accessit Nervorum Descriptio, &c., Lond., 1664, cap. xxvi. 



f* De Vera Nervi Intercostalis Origine, Gotting., 1793; Collect. Dissert. Anat., ii. 939; and 

 Oper. Minor, i. 503. See Appendix to Eng. edit., by Dr. Copland. 



6 Le9ons d'Anatomie Compar. Introd., p. 26. 



7 Dissert, de Structura Usuque Gangliorura, ad J. B. Morgagnium, in Morgagni Adver. 

 Anat., v. 101, Lugd. Bat., 1741. 



* De Nervis Comment , cap. ii. 320. 



9 Philosoph. Transact, for 1829; and Inquiry into the Nature of Sleep and Death, Lond., 

 1834, p. 14. 



10 Fletcher, Rudiments of Physiology, P. ii. a. p. 68, Edinb., 1836. 



11 Philosophical Transactions, vols. 54, 57, and 60 ; Essays on the Use of the Ganglions 

 of the Nerves, Shrewsbury, 1771; and Medical Essays and Observations relating to the 

 Nervous System, Evesham, 1795. 



u Archiv. fur die Physiol., s. 226, vii., Halle, 1807. 



13 Anatomic Generale, torn. i. 200, and ii. 405. 



14 See the excellent article by Wagner, entitled Sympathischer Nerv, Ganglienstructur und 

 Nervenendigungen, in his Handworterbuch der Physiologic, 17te Lieferung, s. 360, Braun- 

 schweig, 1847; another by Budge on the Sympathetic, with special relation to the Heart's 

 action, Ibid., s. 406 ; and on the Sympathetic Ganglia of the Heart by Wagner, Ibid., s. 450. 



