Summary of Autonomic Innervation

Certain effects of the autonomic nervous system are tabulated (Table 8.3) by way of illustration, but for more controversial points, such as the innervation of the bladder and urethra, or those requiring more detailed description, the reader is referred to modern works of physiology.

Comprehension Check

Knowledge of the cellular components, the neural pathways, and the gross structure of the nervous system has not yet provided us with a thorough picture of how the nervous system works. What more must be understood to inform our understanding of how the nervous system functions and produces behavior?

* The official term, encephalon, is rarely encountered but provides a much used stem—encephalitis and electroencephalography.

⁺ The official term is medulla spinalis. Unfortunately, medulla (marrow) is used in several contexts. The term medulla tout court generally signifies medulla oblongata, the hindmost part of the brainstem.

* The variation may be more apparent than real; it has been suggested that the internal obturator of Artiodactyla is actually an intrapelvic part of the external obturator.