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CHAPTER 25
cabinet (Fig. 123) for longer periods, sweating did occur in the form of patches ofminute
pin-points of sweat scattered irregularly over some areas below the level of the lesion,
including the feet. As reflex sweating (see later) due to visceral activity—i.e. detrusor
contraction of the bladder—could be excluded, these findings could indicate thermo-
regulatory sudomotor responses of the isolated cord to intense heat stimulation. However,
as in our cases no laminectomy had been carried out to verify anatomical transection of
the cord, no definite conclusion can be drawn from these cases. Moreover, it cannot be
excluded that the positive response of the scattered patches of sweat glands below the
level of a transection of the cord are due to local axon reflexes resulting from direct heat
stimulation of the skin. In this connection, it may be noted that Bickford (1939) produced
sweating by direct faradic cutaneous stimulation which occurred in a very circumscribed
area around the electrodes. His results were in accordance to those obtained by Lewis &
Marvin (1927) for pilomotor function (goose skin).
The thermoregulatory disturbances of sweating occurring in the early and late
FIG. i3ib.
