88 
THE ORGANIC CELL 
the anterior vesicular column. These same nerve-fibres will 
not degenerate any further, but will retain their physiological 
integrity. Should, however, the cells of the anterior vesicular 
column with which these fibres are in connection be damaged, 
then the motor nerves will degenerate right to their peripheral 
endings in the muscles. 
It is therefore evident that the branched cells of the brain 
surface referred to exert a powerful influence on the nerve fibres 
emanating from them, this influence being of such a nature 
that damage to these cells will be followed not only by loss of 
function in the nerve tracks, but also degeneration of the 
constituent fibres. The same statement applies to the branched 
cells of the anterior vesicular column, which, if damaged, will 
be followed by loss of function and descending degeneration 
to the periphery. 
From these facts it will at once be concluded that the 
motor nerves are under the control of two great trophic centres, 
one located on the surface of the brain (Rolandic area), the 
other in the spinal cord. 
To the first Professor Wyllie has given the name of First 
Trophic Realm, while the other has been named by the same 
eminent authority the Second Trophic Realm. The sensory 
nerves have their own special trophic realm quite distinct 
from the motor ones. The large multipolar ganglion cells 
constituting these trophic centres are furnished with well- 
defined nuclei ; and it is in these nuclei that the powers of 
nourishment, regeneration, and maintenance of the stability 
of the nerve reside. Every experiment goes to prove that 
destructive metabolism may go on in the cytoplasm of a cell 
which has been robbed of its nucleus. The result of this 
metabolic process is contractility, &c., of the protoplasmic 
mass. These phenomena, however, after a period of variable 
length cease, and death ensues. The reason why premature 
death always supervenes is that the faculty of chemical and 
morphological synthesis is not present in the cytoplasm, but 
is a special inherent property of the nuclear material. It is 
the nucleus which initiates these important phenomena in 
the cytoplasm, by which it is enabled to digest and store up 
food material to form a reserve of potential energ}' for future 
