Cerebral Vasodilator Nerves and Their Pathway From the Medulla Oblongata

A crucial experiment in the laboratory of neurology of the Boston City Hospital in which we cooperated with Cobb, Forbes and Finesinger indicated that the efferent pathway for vasodilatation of cerebral arteries would be found in the facial nerve. Returning to Montreal, we made a study1of the seventh cranial nerve and its connections, and found that there is a direct nerve bundle to the pericarotid plexus which leaves the facial nerve at the geniculate ganglion. Simultaneous physiologic2experimentation, carried out independently by Cobb and Finesinger, led them to conclude also that the pathway must leave the facial at the geniculate, as described in their contribution to be found in this issue, page 1243. Following previous work on the perivascular nerves of the brain (Penfield, 1931), we had found that complete sympathectomy did not markedly reduce the total number of perivascular nerve fibers. Therefore, having an excellent method