ON THE GANGLIONS AND SYMPATHETIC NERVE. 517 



stance, and a membrane or capsule tolerably firm and very 

 adherent to the interior substance. In the spinal ganglions, 

 on. the contrary, the medullary filaments are straight, unmix- 

 ed, and the secondary substance is coarse, loose, and very dis- 

 tinct from tne filaments: these ganglions also are regarded as 

 less perfect than the others; Pfeffinger also thinks that they 

 ought to be excluded from this class of organs. The function 

 of these last ganglions remains otherwise very doubtful. It 

 does not appear, in effect, that they diminish the nervous com- 

 munication; neither can they be considered as the origins of 

 the common motory and sensitive nerves, for the anterior root 

 of the spinal nerves is distinct from them. 



816. The uses of the ganglionary nervous cords are to 

 conduct the nervous influence; but they are conductors, a lit- 

 tle different from the other nerves, from which they differ by 

 approximating to the ganglions: they are imperfect conduct- 

 ors. Mechanical or chemical irritations do not traverse them; 

 but galvanic irritation is conducted by them, and determines 

 either sensations or contractions. It is the same with morbid 

 irritations, as irritations of the intestines, ureters, &c. which 

 are perceived. 



The functions of the sympathetic nerve are to direct nutri- 

 tion and the secretions; to distribute the nervous agent to the 

 heart, the digestive canal, and the urinary and genital organs;' 

 to establish a sympathetic connexion between all the principal 

 organs. It fulfils these different functions without the influ- 

 ence of the will and without consciousness of impressions, the 

 ganglions perfbrming at the same time the office of slight li- 

 gatures, which moderate the transmission of the nervous influ- 

 ence, and of parti c^r centres of activity, which augment and 

 modify its distribution. 



This nerve forms thus a particular system in the general 

 system; it has a 'sphere of peculiar action enclosed within the 

 general sphere. Both nervou| systems have intimate connex- 

 ions; they influence each other reciprocally, especially in a 

 morbid state. 



817. Lobstein has collected several very curious facts re- 

 lative to the morbid alterations of the ganglions and sympathet- 



