Experiments on the behavior of the blood vessels have with few exceptions been confined until now to tissue in which there are nerves. In all the organs of the body in adult human beings or in animals that have attained full growth, in which such investigations have taken place, the presence of vasomotor nerves has been demonstrated either anatomically or physiologically (1).It is to be expected that in investigations of the reaction of blood vessels in tissues or an organ which is not innervated, the part usually played by the nervous factor can be ascertained. Experiments carried on in such preparations might make possible in a new way the elucidation of questions having clinical interest, as for instance, those arising in arterial hypertension (2) in which hypersensitivity of all vessels is present as well as in arteriosclerosis (3) in which the level of irritability is reduced and finally, in cases of inflammation (4, 5) in which the part played by the nervous system is still the subject of discussion.
On the Absence of Nerves in the Yolk-Sack of Chick EmbryosConcerning the occurrence of nerves in the membranes of chick embryos there exist in the literature, so far as we know, no references (6). There are, however, numerous investigations on the innervation of membranes of human beings and other mammals to which we intend to refer by way of comparison. The question whether the umbilical cord and the placenta contain nerves dates according to Schott (7) from the time of Galen. Reports of more recent investigations, to the