FIBRES OF ABDOMINAL VISCERA. 643 



receive fibres from the splanchnic nerves of both sides. And, so far as 

 is known, the fibres proceeding from the corresponding ganglia of the 

 two sides, for example the two superior mesenteric ganglia, have the 

 same peripheral distribution. 



The earliest attempts to determine which spinal nerves innervate a 

 given abdominal viscus was made by Bulgak 1 (1877). He obtained 

 contraction of the spleen, on stimulating the third to the tenth thoracic 

 nerves on the left side. No further observations of the kind were made 

 until 1889. Bradford 2 then investigated the origin of the vasomotor 

 fibres of the kidney by Eoy's oncometer method. He found that vaso- 

 motor nerves run to the kidney in the dog in the fourth thoracic to the 

 fourth lumbar nerves inclusive ; the maximum effect was obtained from 

 the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth thoracic nerves, a moderate effect 

 from the sixth to the tenth thoracic, a very slight and inconstant effect 

 from the other nerves. 



Bechterew and Mislawsky, 3 also in 1889, obtained evidence of the 

 presence of inhibitory fibres for the small intestine of the dog, in the 

 sixth thoracic to the first lumbar nerves inclusive, and especially in the 

 ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth thoracic nerves. In one experiment 

 inhibitory effects were obtained by stimulating the nerves above the 

 sixth thoracic. 



In the last few years a considerable number of observations have 

 been made. 



Bayliss and Starling 4 (1894) have found that a rise of portal blood 

 pressure is produced in the dog by stimulating the third to the eleventh 

 thoracic nerves inclusive ; a considerable effect being produced by the 

 fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth ; a less effect by the fourth and 

 tenth ; and a slight effect only by the third and eleventh. On general 

 grounds, partly anatomical and partly physiological, 1 6 came to the con- 

 clusion (1895) that in the cat (with anterior lumbo-sacral plexus) the 

 sixth thoracic to the second lumbar nerves inclusive send pre-ganglionic 

 fibres to the solar ganglia, and that these ganglia send post-ganglionic 

 fibres to all the abdominal viscera. 



Schafer and Moore 6 (1896) reinvestigated the innervation of the 

 spleen in the dog, using the plethysmographic method. They found motor 

 nerves to be present in the third thoracic to the first lumbar inclusive 

 (on both sides). The most marked effect was obtained on stimulating 

 the sixth, seventh, and eighth thoracic nerves ; a very distinct contraction 

 on stimulating the fifth, ninth, and tenth nerves ; a slight contraction 

 on stimulating the third, fourth, eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth 

 thoracic and the first lumbar nerve. 



1 Virdwufs Archiv, 1877, Bd. Ixix. S. 181. For other literature, cf. Schafer and 

 Moore (op. cit. infra). 



2 Journ. Physiol., Cambridge and London, 1896, vol. x. p. 358. I have seen in the 

 cat prompt and great pallor of the kidney and of the upper part of the ureter on stimu- 

 lating the first lumbar nerve, and slower, though still great, pallor on stimulating the 

 second lumbar nerve. It appears to me unlikely that the third lumbar nerve, and 

 still more unlikely that the fourth lumbar nerve, send fibres to the kidney in the 

 dog. 



3 Arch, dephysiol. norm, et path., Paris, 1889, Suppl., p. 243. 



4 Journ. Physiol., Cambridge and London, 1894, vol. xvii. p. 120; the fibres to the 

 portal vein run in the splanchnic nerves. It had already been shown by Mall (Arch. f. 

 Physiol., Leipzig, 1892, S. 409) that the splanchnic contains vasomotor fibres for the portal 

 vein. 



5 "Short Account of the Sympathetic System," 1895. 



6 Journ. Physiol., Cambridge and London, 1896, vol. xx. p. 1. 



