THE SPINAL CORD AND CEREBELLUM 107 



make connections in the spinal cord in the lower 

 dorsal and lumbar regions.* If in addition to vaso- 

 motor fibres these nerves constitute paths for secretory 

 or chemico-sensory impulses, then we should have the 

 two presumably essential factors in nutrition, and we 

 might reasonably infer that this portion of the cord 

 is in a special manner connected with functions of 

 this order. As regards the lumbar portion of the 

 cord, there is, indeed, distinct evidence that it is 

 functionally concerned in keeping up the nutrition 

 of certain parts of the body ; for when in a dog it is 

 severed from the rest of the cord, but otherwise left 

 intact, the animal may, if carefully treated, be kept 

 alive and in very fair condition, whereas if the lumbar 

 section be not only separated but destroyed, the 

 nutritive processes, especially in the hind limbs, 

 become disordered and death ensues.t Bed-sores 

 and impaired nutrition are also frequently the conse- 

 quence of injury to the spine, t This seems to indicate 

 that there are certain cells in the cord itself which 

 play an essential and important part in the nutrition 

 of the body. That some cells in the lumbar portion 

 are specially concerned in keeping up and giving power 

 to the other nerve-cells is certainly suggested by the 

 satisfactory state of nutrition after separation. From 

 the above facts and from the anatomical relations of 

 the abdominal splanchnic nerves to the cord one would 

 be inclined to infer that somewhere in the lower dorsal 



* Horsley, ' The Brain and Spinal Cord,' p. 116. 

 t Foster, loc. cit., p. 986. J Ibid. 



