50 LECTURE 11. 



and so numerous are these connections, that 

 this nerve has in the human subject obtain- 

 ed the title of the great sympathetic nerve. 



The vital organs are required to carry on 

 their functions with a degree of regularity 

 and order, under the varying circumstances 

 of life ; and the possession of a distinct 

 nerve may enable them to continue their 

 functions without so materially participat- 

 ing in the disturbances of the animal sys- 

 tem, as they must otherwise have done : 

 yet the numerous connections of the vis- 

 ceral with the animal nerves must render 

 both participators in each other's disorders. 



The nerves, then, may be said to proceed 

 from the brain, medulla spinalis, and vis- 

 ceral nerve, to all parts of the body for 

 their supply. In thus expressing a fact, 

 however, we should guard against an idea 

 which the analogous distribution of arteries 

 is apt to engender. Arteries become mi- 

 nute in proportion as they send off branches, 

 whilst, on the contrary, the branches of nerves 

 are often larger than the trunk from which 



