Note on the Action of Tonsillar Extract. 47 



responded to a weaker current than was necessary for the stimula- 

 tion of the other areas. 



The pyramid tract fibers were traced from their origin in the 

 cerebral cortex, caudalwards, to the spinal cord. They occupied 

 the usual positions in the crusta, pontine bundles and anterior 

 pyramid above the decussation. In the posterior part of the 

 medulla oblongata most of them crossed the median raphe and 

 turned caudalwards into the lateral column of the spinal cord, but 

 in three of the specimens examined a considerable number of 

 fibers remained uncrossed and formed a direct ventral pyramid 

 tract, extending along the margin of the ventral median fissure. 

 This tract could be traced to the middle of the thoracic region 

 where it disappeared. A few uncrossed fibers were also found in 

 the lateral column. 



It is generally believed that this uncrossed ventral tract (direct 

 pyramidal tract) is limited to man and the anthropoid apes; such, 

 however, is not the case, for it is present in the raccoon and is more 

 pronounced still in the porcupine. 1 



The crossed lateral pyramid tract could be followed to the last 

 of the sacral segments. In the raccoon this is a large tract both 

 in relative area, in transverse sections of the spinal cord, and in 

 the number of fibers which it contains. In no animal below the 

 macaque monkey have I found it so extensive. 



34 (730) 



Note on the action of tonsillar extract. 



By Isaac Ott and John C. Scott. 



[From the Laboratory of Physiology, Medico-Chirurgical College, 



Philadelphia.] 



We used the dried powdered tonsil of the calf. When a 

 filtered infusion of two grains of the powdered tonsil was injected 

 into the cat by the jugular vein in divided doses, it produced a 

 great fall of blood-pressure, lasting about a minute, followed by 

 a rise above normal, with a much slower and stronger heart beat. 

 Increase of this dose suddenly arrested the heart. In the same 

 animal it was also a diuretic, increasing the flow of urine twenty 

 times the original amount. 



1 Sutherland Simpson, Proc. Soc. Exper. Biol, and Med., 1912, Oct. 18, p. 15. 



