602 THE POSTERIOR PITUITARY AND THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 



mechanical energy being due to the oxidizing substance, it is 

 traceable through the adrenal system to the anterior pituitary 

 body, while the inciting and governing influence, being of 

 cerebro-spinal origin through the anterior root severed, is 

 traceable to the posterior pituitary body. That it is of central 

 origin is proven by the fact that section of the medulla is fol- 

 lowed by general vasodilation. 



Control experiments are represented by the well-known 

 facts that stimulation of an anterior root causes vasoconstric- 

 tion and increased functional activity, and, if sufficiently 

 strong, convulsive movements of muscles. The latter, as we 

 have repeatedly seen, are due to excessive oxidation of the 

 muscular elements complemental testimony to the effect that 

 inadequate oxidation is the primary source of paralysis and 

 that our conception of the functional process is not erroneous. 



We have previously shown that the so-called vasomoter 

 center and the cranial nerves that possessed motor properties 

 occupied the same medullary region: the upper. As general 

 motor nerves possess vasomotor properties, the reason for this 

 is obvious. Again, we ascertained that the cranial nerves which 

 acquire motor properties by anastomosis were grouped in the 

 lower portion of the medulla. The entire organ thus becomes 

 a conductor for general motor impulses, whether transmitted 

 by the cord (as indicated by the general vasodilation incident 

 upon medullary section) or by cranial nerves. 



Although this aggregate of motor areas in the medulla 

 represents but radiating paths from a common center, the 

 posterior pituitary lobe, present conceptions as to their dis- 

 tribution whether to the extremities, the thorax, the cranial 

 nerves, etc. or their anatomical relations with the hemispheres 

 the cerebellum, etc. are in no way modified. All we need 

 to recall is that if our views are sound the sympathetic 

 system is not an autonomous system of nerves, and that it is 

 a subdivision of the general motor system originating, like all 

 motor nerves, from the cord, while its impulses emanate from 

 the common general center. Indeed, the lull is a consociating 

 organ, but not a primary center, nor the seat of a multitude of 

 specific centers. It is purely an extension of the spinal cord; and 

 its nuclei, roots, etc., correspond to the spinal roots, though more 



