PART I.] Certain Points Established by the Experiments. 141 



to hold in regard to the secretion of the submaxillary gland and its nervous 

 supply. It was an ascertained fact that partial paralysis of that gland induced 

 hyper-secretion, whilst total paralysis diminished the secretion, but, in as far as 

 we can ascertain, it was a matter of mere conjectural probability that the same held 

 in regard to the small intestines also. The importance of the determination of 

 this point in reference to the pathology of cholera is very great, as it appears 

 to indicate partial paralysis of the intestine ? as one of the most important 

 lesions in the disease. What tiie nature of the nervous filaments, which respect- 

 ively inhibit and promote the intestinal secretion, is, remains undetermined, and 

 is a problem, the solution of which necessarily involves many difficulties, but it is, 

 at all events, a step in the right direction to ascertain that filaments with these 

 different functions actually do exist. 



There is another point in connection with the pathology of cholera on which 

 some additional light appears to have been thrown by the above investigations. The 

 increased secretion of intestinal fluid in the disease has been ascribed by some to 

 mechanical obstruction to the current of the capillary circulation, but our experiments 

 appear \.o indicate that mere obstruction to the circulation causes sanguineous effusion 

 and not hyper-secretion. 



Time has not as yet sufficed to allow of any extended series of experiments 

 regarding the effect of division of the nerves combined with injections of organic 

 fluids into the circulation, but we trust that the time expended in following out 

 the above preliminary inquiries may not be deemed to have been wasted, seeing 

 that the latter have afforded some additional information in regard to the action 

 of the cause inducing that series of phenomena which in the aggregate constitute 

 cholera. 



We cannot conclude this Report without expressing our own sense of the 

 imperfections under which it labours. Both in the planning and execution of the 

 experiments, we are well aware that there are no small defects, but we trust that 

 in any estimate which may be formed of them, the very many difficulties inci- 

 dental to such work in India may not be left altogether out of sight. 



