MR. T. SNOW BECK ON THE NERVES OF THE UTERUS. 
215 
a ganglion is formed, similar in appearance to those found on the posterior branches 
of the spinal nerves. About an inch below this ganglion, the two portions of the 
splanchnic nerve interchange some fibres which form a small plexus. This plexus 
terminates in several funiculi, which, surrounded by a common cellular envelope, 
pierce the diaphragm, and end in a collection of ganglia at the side of the coeliac 
axis. 
This collection of ganglia, when considered collectively, is named the semilunar 
ganglion, and is described as consisting of six or eight, ganglia with cords connecting 
them together. Yet each of these six or eight ganglia is an aggregation of smaller 
ganglia. The connecting cords sometimes contain ganglionic corpuscles, but most 
frequently they are composed of only nervous fibres. Six or seven of the funiculi of 
the splanchnic nerve end in a common ganglion at the superior and outer corner, and 
the remaining three pass behind, and, joining with a branch from the lesser splanchnic, 
end in a ganglion placed anterior to the root of the renal artery. From this collec- 
tion of coeliac ganglia branches are sent to the viscera in the neighbourhood*. 
* Professor Cruveilhier, in his Anatomie Descriptive, vol. iv. p. 1011, says, “ Si, sur une piece qui a ma- 
cere dans l’acide nitrique etendu, on cherche a determiner d’une maniere exacte le point le plus eleve de l’ori- 
gine du grand nerf splanchnique, on verra, d’une part, que les filamens blancs dont la reunion constitue ce 
nerf, sont deja distincts au niveau du troisieme ganglion thoracique, et, d’une autre part, que ces filamens 
blancs sont simplement accoles au cordon de communication ainsi qu’aux ganglions, qu’ils se continuent avec 
les branches emanees des paires rachidiennes ; en sorte que l’anatomie de texture demontre de la manihre la 
plus evidente, la continuity du nerf splanchnique avec les paires rachidiennes.” 
The branches of the spinal nerves which form the white connecting cords with the sympathetic, and which 
chiefly form the great splanchnic nerve, can be readily traced as high as the third thoracic ganglion. And if 
the sympathetic be examined in dilute acetic acid, or a solution of bay-salt and arsenite of soda, smaller branches 
which progressively decrease as we ascend, may be traced from all the superior thoracic ganglia. The branches 
which form the splanchnic nerve are not exclusively derived from the intera pino t costal nerves, but are partly 
composed of gelatinous nervous fibres derived from the thoracic sympathetic. These gelatinous fibres, although 
associated with the tubular fibres of the spinal nerves, are yet distinct, and so connected with the thoracic 
ganglia above and the semilunar ganglion below, as to leave no doubt in my mind that they exist as an inde- 
pendent system of nerves. The gray roots of the sympathetic, as they are called, are branches of the sympa- 
thetic given off from the thoracic ganglia, in the same manner as the branches of the sympathetic are given off 
from the semilunar ganglion. Its cdmposition, as shown by the microscope, is also analogous to that of the 
branches of the sympathetic nerve, consisting chiefly of gelatinous nervous fibres, with some tubular fibres. 
It arises from the thoracic ganglion by a single trunk, soon divides, and is chiefly distributed to the vessels : 
some of the gelatinous fibres join the intercostal nerve, and, becoming associated with other gelatinous fibres 
which arise from the ganglion on the sensitive root of the spinal nerve, go with the intercostal nerve in its dis- 
tribution. The ganglia on the sensitive root of the spinal nerves become thus associated with the ganglia of the 
sympathetic, whose office, anatomically considered, is to give origin to the gelatinous fibre. A few gelatinous 
fibres are found in both the motor and sensitive roots of the spinal nerves, but the quantity is so small when 
compared with the quantity found in other parts, as to preclude the idea that the sympathetic arises from them. 
Most probably these fibres are distributed to the vessels of the cord ; as gelatinous fibres, which come from 
the gray branch of the thoracic ganglion, pass along the motor root in the direction of the spinal cord, and 
gelatinous fibres, from the same source, also enter the ganglion on the sensitive root ; both these sets of fibres 
evidently pass from the thoracic ganglion towards the spinal cord. We have thus two distinct and separate 
MDCCCXLVI. 2 F 
