# Origin of Vertebrates/Chapter XIII

CHAPTER XIII
THE NOTOCHORD AND ALIMENTARY CANAL
Relationship between notochord and gut.—Position of unsegmented tube of notochord.—Origin of notochord from a median groove.—Its function as an accessory digestive tube.—Formation of notochordal tissue in invertebrates from closed portions of the digestive tube.—Digestive power of the skin of Ammocœtes.—Formation of new gut in Ammocœtes at transformation.—Innervation of the vertebrate gut.—The three outflows of efferent nerves belonging to the organic system.—The original close contiguity of the respiratory chamber to the cloaca.—The elongation of the gut.—Conclusion.
In the previous chapters all the important organs of the arthropod have been found in the vertebrate in their appropriate place, of similar structure, and innervated from corresponding parts of the central nervous system. Such comparison is possible only as long as the ventral and dorsal surfaces of the vertebrate correspond with the respective surfaces of the arthropod, and no reversal is assumed. This method of comparative anatomy is the surest and most certain guide to the relationship between two animals, and when the facts obtained by the anatomical method are so strikingly confirmatory of the palæontological evidence, the combined evidence becomes so strong as to amount almost to a certainty that vertebrates did arise from arthropods in the manner mapped out in previous chapters, and not from a hypothetical group of animals, such as is postulated in the theory of their origin from forms like Balanoglossus.
The latter theory derives the alimentary canal of the vertebrate from that of the invertebrate, and finds in the latter the commencement of the notochord. In the comparison which I have made the alimentary canal of the invertebrate ancestor has become the tube of the central nervous system of the vertebrate, and there is no sign of a notochord whatever. All the organs of the arthropod have already been allocated; where the notochord is situated in the ​vertebrate there is nothing but a gap in the invertebrate, but the position of that gap can be settled with great accuracy from the previous comparison of organs in the two groups. So, also, the alimentary canal of the vertebrate is from the very nature of the case a new organ, yet, as has been shown in Chapter V., the comparison of the respiratory organs in the two groups gives a strong suggestion of the manner in which such a canal was formed.
The Origin of the Notochord.
The time has now come to endeavour to frame a plausible theory of the method of formation of the notochord and the new alimentary canal, and thus to complete the diagram on p. 413. The comparative method is no longer available, for these structures are both unrepresented as such in the arthropod; any suggested explanation, therefore, must be more tentative, and cannot give the same feeling of certainty as is the case with all the organs already considered. Our only chance of finding out the past history of the notochord lies in the embryological method, in the hope that, according to the 'law of recapitulation,' the ancestral history may be repeated in the ontogeny with sufficient clearness to enable some conclusion to be drawn.
At the outset, one point comes out clearly—the close relationship between the notochord and the vertebrate gut; they are both derived from the same layer, both parts of the same structure. On this point all embryologists are agreed; it is expressed in such statements as, "the notochord, as well as the alimentary canal, is formed from hypoblast"; "the notochord arises as a thickening in the dorsal wall of the alimentary canal." The two structures are so closely connected together that they must be considered together. If we can conjecture the origin of the one, we may be sure that we have the clue to the origin of the other. The two together form the one new organ which distinguishes the vertebrate from the arthropod, the only thing left which requires explanation for the completion of this strange history.
What, then, is the notochord? What are its characteristics? In the highest vertebrates it is conspicuous only in the embryo; with the development of the axial skeleton it is more and more squeezed out of existence, until in the adult it is no longer visible. By the 'law of recapitulation' this developmental history implies that, as we descend the vertebrate phylum, the notochord ought to be more and ​more conspicuous, more and more permanent during the life of the animal. Such is, indeed, found to be the case, until at last, in the lowest vertebrates, such as the lamprey, and in forms like Amphioxus, the notochord persists throughout the life of the animal as a large important axial supporting rod.
This rod has a number of striking characteristics which distinguish it from all other structures, and are the only means of guessing its probable origin. Its position in the body is always the same in all vertebrates and is very significant, for it lies just ventrally to the central nervous system, along nearly the whole length of the animal, not quite the whole length, for it invariably terminates close to the place where the infundibulum comes to the surface of the brain; it is, in fact, always confined to the infra-infundibular and spinal cord part of the central nervous system. Interpreting this into the language of the arthropod, it means that a rod was formed just ventrally to the nervous system, which extended the whole length of the infraœsophageal and ventral chain of ganglia, and terminated at the orifice of the mouth. Moreover, this rod was unsegmented, for the notochord is devoid of segmentation.
At the anterior end the rod tapers to a point, as in Fig. 166. In its middle part it is very large and conspicuous, cylindrical in shape; its interior is filled with a peculiar vacuolated tissue, different to any other known vertebrate tissue, which has therefore received the name of notochordal tissue. Outside this is a thick sheath formed of many layers, of which the external one gives the staining reactions of elastin, and is called the external elastic layer. Between this sheath and the notochordal tissue a thin layer of lining cells, of normal appearance, is conspicuous in Ammocœtes. These cells secrete the layers of the sheath, and have originally, by proliferation, given rise to the notochordal tissue. In the notochord of Ammocœtes there is no sign of either nerves, blood-vessels, or muscles.
The centre of the notochord presents the appearance of a slight slit, as though it had originated from a tube, and that is the opinion now generally held, for its mode of formation in the embryo is as that of a tube formed from an open groove, as will be explained immediately.
We may, then, conceive of the notochord as originally a tube lying in the mid-line just ventrally to the central nervous system, and extending from the original mouth to the end of the body. Translate this into the language of the arthropod and it denotes a tube on the ​mid-ventral surface of the body, which extended from mouth to anus. Such a tube might be formed from the mid-ventral surface as follows:—
In Fig. 163, A, the lining of the ventral surface between two appendages is represented flat, in B is shown how the formation of a solid rod may arise from the bulging of that ventral surface, and in C how a groove on that surface may lead to the formation of a tube between the two appendages. The difference between a notochordal rod formed as in B from that in C would be shown in the sheath, for in B the sheath would be formed from the cuticle of the lining cells, and in C from the basement membrane. The structure of the sheath is in accordance with the embryological evidence that the notochord is formed as a tube from a groove, as in C, and not as a solid rod as in B, for it possesses a well-marked elastin layer, and elastin has never yet been found as a constituent of any cuticular secretion, but invariably in connection with basement-membranes.
Fig. 163.—Diagram of two possible methods of the Formation of a Notochord.
The position, then, of the notochord and its method of formation suggests that the mid-ventral surface of the arthropod ancestor of the vertebrate formed a deep groove between the bases of all the prosomatic, mesosomatic, and metasomatic appendages, which was subsequently converted into a tube extending along the whole of the body between mouth and anus, and finally, by the proliferation of its lining cells and their conversion into notochordal tissue, became the notochordal rod of the vertebrate.
As already frequently stated, Apus and Branchipus are the two living arthropods which most nearly resemble the extinct trilobites. The beautiful specimens of Triarthrus (Fig. 165) found by Beecher give an idea of the under surface of the trilobite such as has never been obtained before, and demonstrate how closely the condition of things found in Apus (Fig. 164) was similar to that occurring in the trilobites. In both cases the mid-ventral surface of the animal formed a deep groove which extended the whole length of the ​animal; on each side of this groove in Apus are closely set the gnatho-bases of the appendages, in such a manner that the groove can be easily converted into a canal by the movements of these bases—a canal which, owing to the great number of the appendages and their closeness to each other, can be completely and efficiently closed.
| Fig. 164.—Under-Surface of Apus. (After Bronn.) | Fig. 165.—Under-Surface of a Trilobite (Triarthrus). (From Beecher.) |
All those who have seen Apus in the living state assert that this canal so formed is actually used by the animal for feeding purposes. By the movements of the gnatho-bases food is passed up from the hind end of the animal along the whole length of this ventral canal to the mouth, where it is taken in and swallowed. In this way Apus has been seen to swallow its own eggs.
In the trilobites there is a similar deep channel formed by the mid-ventral surface, similar gnatho-bases, and closely set appendages, and the membrane of this ventral groove was extremely thin.
Here, then, in the very group of animals which were the progenitors of the presumed palæostracan ancestor of the vertebrate—a group which is characterized by its extensive prevalence and its ​enormous variety of form during the great trilobite era—the formation of a mid-ventral canal out of this deep ventral groove is seen to be not only easy to imagine, but most probable, provided that a necessity arose for such a conversion.
For what purpose might such a tube have been formed? I would suggest that it might have acted as an accessory food-channel, which was of sufficient value at the time to give some advantage in the struggle for existence to those members of the group who were thus able to supplement their intake of food, but at the same time was so inefficient that it was quickly superseded by the new alimentary canal, and thus losing its temporary function, became solid, and was utilized to form an axial supporting rod.
There is a very considerable amount of evidence in favour of the view that the notochord was originally a digestive tube; in fact, as far as I know, this conclusion is universally accepted. The evidence is based essentially upon its development and upon its structure. It is formed in the vertebrate from the same layer as the alimentary canal, i.e. the hypoblast, and in Amphioxus it commences as a groove in the dorsal wall of the future alimentary canal; this groove then closes to form the tube of the notochord, and separates from the alimentary canal. Embryologically, then, the notochord is looked upon as a tube formed directly from the alimentary canal.
As regards its structure, its tissue is, as already stated, something sui generis. Notochordal tissue has no resemblance to bone or cartilage, or any of the usual supporting tissues. Such a tissue is not, however, entirely confined to the notochord of the vertebrates, but tissue closely resembling it has been found not only in Amphioxus and the Tunicata, but in certain other invertebrates, in the Enteropneusta (Balanoglossus, etc.), in Cephalodiscus, and in Actinotrocha. In all these latter cases, such a tissue is invariably found in disused portions of the alimentary canal; a diverticulum of the alimentary canal becomes closed, vacuolation of its lining cells takes place, and a tissue resembling notochordal tissue is formed.
Owing to the notochord being invariably so striking and mysterious a feature of the lowest vertebrates, the term vertebrate, which is inappropriate in the members of the group which do not yet possess vertebræ, has been largely superseded by the term chordate, with the result of attributing an undue preponderance to this tissue in any system of classification. Hence, wherever any animal has been found ​with a tissue resembling that of the notochord, enthusiasts have immediately jumped to the conclusion that a relationship must exist between it and the chordate animals; and, accordingly, they have classified such animals as follows: Amphioxus belongs to the group Cephalochorda because the notochord projects beyond the central nervous system; the Tunicata are called Urochorda because it is confined to the tail; the Enteropneusta, Hemichorda, because this tissue is confined to a small diverticulum of the gut, and, finally, Diplochorda has been suggested for Actinotrocha and Phoronis because two separate portions of the gut are transformed in this way.
This exaggerated importance given to any tissue resembling in structure that of the notochord is believed in by many of those who profess to be our teachers on this subject, the very men who can deliberately shut their eyes to the plain reading of the story of the pineal eyes, and say, "In our opinion this pineal organ was not an eye at all."
The only legitimate inference to be drawn from the similarity of structure between the notochord and these degenerated gut-diverticula, is that the structure of the notochord may have arisen in the same way, and that therefore the notochord may once have functioned as a gut. With cessation of its function its cells became vacuolated, as in these other cases, and its lumen became filled with notochordal tissue. This evidence strongly confirms the suggestion that the notochord was once a digestive tube, but by no means signifies that such tissue, wherever found, indicates the presence of a notochord.
In order to resemble a notochord, this tissue must possess not only a definite structure but a definite position, and this position is a remarkably striking and suggestive one. The notochordal tube is unsegmented, although the vertebrate is markedly segmented. But in all segmented animals the only unsegmented tube which extends the whole length of the body, from mouth to anus, is invariably the gut. In the vertebrate there are three such tubes: (1) the gut itself, (2) the central canal of the nervous system, and (3) the notochordal tube.
The first is the present gut, the second the gut of the invertebrate ancestor, and the third the tube in question.
These three unsegmented tubes, extending along the whole length ​of the segmented animal, constitute the great peculiarity of the vertebrate group; it is not the unsegmented notochord alone which requires explanation, but the presence of three such tubes in the same animal. Any one of them might be the unsegmented gut of the segmented animal. The most ventral tube is the actual gut of the present vertebrate; the most dorsal—the neural canal—was, according to my view, the original gut of the invertebrate ancestor; the middle one—the notochordal tube—was, in all probability, also once a gut, formed at the time when the exigencies of the situation made it difficult for food to pass along the original gut.
Fig. 166.—Diagram to show the Meeting of the Four Tubes in such a Vertebrate as the Lamprey.
Yet another circumstance in favour of this suggestion is the very striking position of the anterior termination of the notochord. It terminates at the point of convergence of three structures:—
(1) The tube of the hypophysis or nasal tube.
(2) The infundibulum or old mouth-termination.
(3) The notochordal tube.
To these may be added, according to Kupffer, in the embryonic stage, the anterior diverticulum of the gut (Fig. 166).
This is a very significant point. Here originally, in the invertebrate stage, the olfactory passage opened into the old mouth and œsophagus. Here, finally, in the completed vertebrate the same olfactory passage opens into the new pharynx. In the stage between the two it may well have opened into an intermediate gut, the notochordal tube, its separation from which would leave the end of the ​notochord blind, just as it had already left the end of the infundibulum blind.
The whole evidence points to the derivation of the notochord from a ventral groove on the surface of the animal, which closed to form a tube capable of acting as an accessory gut at the critical period before the new gut was fully formed. The essentials of a gut tube are absorption and digestion of food; is it likely that a tube formed as I have suggested would be efficient for such purposes?
As far as absorption is concerned, no difficulty would arise. The gut of the arthropod is lined with a thin layer of chitin, which is traversed, like all other chitinous surfaces, by fine canaliculi. Through these canaliculi, absorption of fluid material takes place, from the gut to the body. Similar canaliculi occur in the chitin covering the animal externally, so that, if such external surface formed a tube, and food in the right condition for absorption passed along it, absorption could easily take place through the chitinous surface. The evidence of Apus proves that food does pass along such a tube in the open condition, and in the trilobites the chitinous surface lining a similar groove was apparently very thin, a condition still more favourable to such an absorption process.
At first sight the second essential of a gut-tube—the power of digestion—appears to present an insuperable difficulty to this method of forming an accessory gut-tube, for it necessitates the formation of a secretion capable of digesting proteid material by the external cells of the body, whereas until recently it was supposed that such a function was confined to cells belonging to the so-called hypoblastic layer. Experiments were made now years ago of turning a Hydra inside out so that its internal layer should become external, and vice versâ, and they were said to have been successful. Such an animal could go on living and absorbing and digesting food, although its epiblastic surface was now its digestive internal surface. More recent observations have shown that these experiments were fallacious. At night-time, when the observer was not looking, the hydra reinverted itself, so that again its original digestive surface was inside and it lived and prospered as before.
Another piece of evidence of somewhat similar kind, which has not as yet been discredited, is seen in the Tunicata. In many of these, new individuals are formed from the parent by a process of budding, and it has been proved that frequently the gut of the new ​individual thus budded off arises not from the gut or hypoblastic layer of the parent, but from the surface or epiblastic layer. Such gut so formed possesses as efficient digestive powers as the gut of the parent.
The most remarkable evidence of all has been afforded by Miss Alcock's experiments. She examined the different tissues of Ammocœtes for the express purpose of finding out their power of digesting fibrin, with the result that the most active cells were those of the liver. Next in activity came the extract of the lining cells of the respiratory chamber and of the skin. The intestine itself when freed from the liver-secretion had very little digestive power; extracts of muscle, nervous system, and thyroid gland had no power whatever, but the extract of the skin-cells possessed a powerful digesting action.
Furthermore, it is not necessary to make an extract of the skin in order to obtain this digestive fluid, for under the influence of chloroform the skin of Ammocœtes secretes copiously, and this fluid thus secreted was found to possess strong digestive powers. So, also, Miss Alcock has demonstrated the power of digesting fibrin in a similar secretion of the epithelial cells lining the carapace of the crayfish. In both cases a very plausible reason for the presence of a digestive ferment in a skin-secretion is found in the necessity of preventing the growth of parasites, fungoid, or otherwise, especially in those parts where the animal cannot keep itself clean by 'preening.' Thus in a crayfish, in which the œsophageal commissures had been cut, fungus was found to grow on the ventral side, but not on the dorsal carapace. The animal was accustomed to keep its ventral surface clean by preening; owing to the paralysis it could not do so, and consequently the fungus grew there. In the lamprey I found that wherever there was a removal of the surface-epithelium, from whatever cause, that spot was immediately covered with a fungoid growth, although in the intact lamprey the skin was invariably smooth and clean.
I imagine, then, that this digestive power of the skin arose as a protective mechanism against parasitic attacks; it is self-evident how a tube formed of such material must ab initio act as a digestive tube.
In yet another respect this skin secretion of Ammocœtes is most instructive. The surface of Ammocœtes is absolutely smooth, no scales ​of any kind exist; this smoothness is due to the presence of a very well-defined cuticular layer secreted by the underlying epithelial cells. This cuticle is very much thicker than is usually found in vertebrates, and, strangely enough, has been thought to contain chitin. Whether it really contains chitin or not I am unable to say, but it certainly resembles a chitinous layer in one respect; it is perforated by innumerable very fine tubes or canaliculi, along which, by appropriate staining, it is easy to see the secretion of the underlying cell pass to the exterior (Fig. 140). This marked digestive power of the skin of Ammocœtes, together with the easy passage of the secretion through the thin cuticular layer, renders it almost certain that a tube formed from the deep ventral groove of the trilobite would, from the very first, act as a digestive as well as an absorbent tube; in other words, the notochord as soon as formed was able to act as an accessory digestive tube.
This suggested origin of the notochord from a groove along the mid-ventral surface of the body not only indicates a starting-point from a markedly segmented portion of the body, but also points to its formation at a stage previous to the formation of the operculum by the fusion of the two foremost mesosomatic appendages—indicates therefore its formation at a stage more nearly allied to the trilobite than to the sea-scorpion. The chance of ever finding any direct evidence of such a chordate trilobite stage appears to me exceedingly improbable, and I greatly fear that this conception of the mode of formation of the notochord can never be put to direct proof, but must always remain guesswork.
On the other hand, evidence of a kind in favour of its origin from a segmented part of the body does exist, and that evidence has this special value, that it is found only in that most primitive animal, Amphioxus.
This evidence is as follows:—
At fairly regular intervals, the sheath of the notochord is interrupted on each side of the mid-dorsal line by a series of holes, which penetrate the whole thickness of the sheath. This dorsal part is pressed closely against the spinal cord, and through these holes fibres appear to pass from the spinal cord to the interior of the notochord. So greatly do these fibres present the appearance of ventral roots to the notochord, that Miss Platt looks upon them as paired motor roots to the notochord, or at all events as once having been such motor ​roots. Lwoff and Rolph both describe a direct communication between the spinal cord and the notochord by means of fibres passing through these holes, without however looking upon this connection as a nervous one. Joseph alone asserts that no absolute connection exists, for the internal elastic layer of the notochord, according to him, is not interrupted at these holes, and forms, therefore, a barrier between the fibres from the spinal cord and those from the interior of the notochord. Still, whatever is the ultimate verdict as to these fibres, the suggestive fact remains of the spaces in the notochordal sheath and of the corresponding projecting root-like fibres from the spinal cord. The whole appearance gives the impression of some former connection, or rather series of connections, between the spinal cord and the notochord, such as would have occurred if nerves had once passed into the notochord. On the other hand, such nerves were not arranged segmentally with the myotomes, for, according to Joseph, in the middle of the animal ten to twelve such holes occur in one body-segment. In Apus the appendages are more numerous than the body-segments, so that it is not necessary for a segmental arrangement to coincide with that of the body-segments.
The Origin of the Alimentary Canal.
In close connection with the notochord is the alimentary canal. Any explanation of the one must be of assistance in explaining the other.
According to the prevalent embryological teaching, the body is formed of three layers, epiblast, hypoblast, and mesoblast, and the gastræa theory of the origin of all Metazoa implies of necessity that the formation of every individual commences with the formation of the gut. For this reason the alimentary canal must in every case be regarded as the earliest formed organ, however late in the development it may attain its finished appearance. Hence the notochord is spoken of as developed from the mid-dorsal wall of the alimentary canal. It is possible to look at the question the other way round, and suppose that the organ whose development is finished first is older than the one still in process of making. In this case it would be more right to say a ventral extension of the tissue, which gives rise to the notochord, takes place and forms the alimentary canal. It is, to my mind, perfectly possible, and indeed probable, that ​the formation of the vertebrate alimentary canal was a repetition of the same process which had already led to the formation of the notochordal tube. The formation of the anterior part of the alimentary canal in Ammocœtes at the time of transformation strongly suggests the marked similarity of the two processes.
Of all the startling surprises which occur at transformation, this formation of a new anterior gut is the most startling. From the oral chamber of Petromyzon two tubes start: the one leads into the gill-chambers, is known as the bronchus, and is entirely concerned with respiration; the other leads without a break from the mouth to the anus, has no connection with respiration, and is the alimentary canal of the animal. Any one looking at Petromyzon would say that its alimentary canal was absolutely non-respiratory in character. Before transformation, this kind of alimentary canal commences at the end of the respiratory chamber; from here to the anus it is of the same character as in Petromyzon, but in Ammocœtes the non-respiratory anterior part simply does not exist: the whole anterior chamber is both respiratory and affords passage to food. This part of the alimentary canal of the adult is formed anew. We see, then, here the formation of a part of the alimentary canal taking place, not in an embryo full of yolk, but in a free-living, independent, grown-up larval form in which all yolk has long since disappeared: a condition absolutely unique in the vertebrate kingdom, but one which more than any other may be expected to give a clue to the method of formation of a vertebrate gut.
The formation of this new gut can be easily followed at transformation, and was originally described by Schneider. His statement has been confirmed by Nestler, and its absolute truth has been demonstrated to me again and again by Miss Alcock, in her specimens illustrative of the transformation process. First, in the mid-dorsal line of the respiratory chamber a distinct groove is formed, the edges of which come together and form a solid rod. This solid rod blocks the opening of the respiratory chamber into the mid-gut, so that during this period of the transformation no food can pass out of the pharyngeal chamber. A lumen then begins to appear in this solid rod at the posterior end, which steadily advances mouthwards until it opens into the oral chamber and thus forms an open tube connecting the mouth with the gut.
Here, then, is the foundation of a new gut on very similar lines ​to that of the notochord, by the conversion of a groove into a tube. Still more suggestive is it to find that the tube so formed has no appearance whatever of segmentation; it is as unsegmented as the rest of the gut, although, as is seen in Fig. 62, the dorsal wall of the respiratory chamber from which it arose is as markedly segmented as any part of the animal. Here under our very eyes, in the course of a few days or weeks, an object-lesson in the process of the manufacture of an alimentary canal is carried out and completed, and the teaching of that lesson is that a gut-tube may be formed in the same way as the notochordal tube, by the conversion of a grooved surface into a canal, and that gut-tube so formed, like the notochord, loses all sign of segmentation, even although the original grooved surface was markedly segmented.
The suggestion then is, that the new gut may have been formed by a repetition of the same process which had already given origin to the notochord.
Such a method of formation is not, in my opinion, opposed to the evidence given by embryology, but in accordance with it; the discussion of this point will come best in the next chapter, which treats of the embryological evidence as a whole, and will therefore be left till then.
The Evidence given by the Innervation of the Vertebrate Alimentary Canal.
Throughout this investigation the one fixed landmark to which all other comparisons must be referred, is the central nervous system, and the innervation of every organ has given the clue to the meaning of that organ. So also it must be with the new alimentary canal; by its innervation we ought to obtain some insight into the manner of its origination. In any organ the nerves which are specially of value in determining its innervation, are of necessity the efferent or motor nerves, for the limits of their distribution in the organ are much more easily determined than those of the afferent or sensory nerves. The question therefore of primary importance in endeavouring to determine the nature of the origin of the alimentary canal from its innervation is the determination of the efferent supply to the musculature of its walls.
Already in previous chapters a commencement has been made in ​this direction; thus the musculature of the oral chamber has been derived directly from the musculature of the prosomatic appendages; the muscles which move the eyes from the prosomatic and mesosomatic dorso-ventral somatic muscles; the longitudinal body-muscles from the dorsal longitudinal somatic muscles of the arthropod; the muscles of respiration from the dorso-ventral muscles of the mesosomatic appendages.
In all these cases we have been dealing with striated musculature and consequently with only the motor nerves of the muscle; but the gut posterior to the pharyngeal or respiratory chamber contains unstriped instead of striped muscle, and is innervated by two sets of nerves, those which cause contraction and are motor, and those which cause relaxation and are inhibitory. It is by no means certain that these two sets of nerves possess equal value from a morphological point of view. The meaning of an inhibitory nerve is at present difficult to understand, and in this instance, is rendered still more doubtful owing to the presence of Auerbach's plexus along the whole length of the intestine—an elaborate system of nerve-cells and nerve-fibres situated between the layers of longitudinal and circular muscles surrounding the gut-walls, which has been shown by the recent experiments of Magnus, to constitute a special enteric nervous system.
One of the strangest facts known about the system of inhibitory nerves is their marked tendency to leave the central nervous system at a different level to the corresponding motor nerves, as is well known in the case of the heart, where the inhibitory nerve—the vagus—arises from the medulla oblongata, while the motor nerve—the augmentor or accelerator—leaves the spinal cord in the upper thoracic region. It is very difficult to obtain any idea of the origin of such a peculiarity; I know of only one suggestive fact, which concerns the innervation of the muscles which open and close the chela of the crayfish, lobster, etc. These muscles are antagonistic to each other, and both possess inhibitory as well as motor nerves. The central nervous system arrangements are of such a character that the contraction of the one muscle is accompanied by the inhibition of its opposer, and the nerves which inhibit the contraction of the one, leave the central nervous system with the nerves which cause the other to contract. Thus the inhibitory and motor nerves of either the abductor (opener) or adductor (closer) muscles of the crayfish claw do not leave the central nervous system together, but in separate nerves.
​If now for some cause the one set of muscles either disappeared, or were so altered as no longer to present any appearance of antagonism, then there would be left a single set of muscles, the inhibitory and motor nerves of which would leave the central nervous system at different levels, and the older such systems might be, the greater would be the modification in the shape and arrangements of parts in the animal, so that the two sets of fibres might ultimately arise from very different levels.
As mentioned in the introductory chapter, the whole of this investigation into the origin of vertebrates arose from my work on the system of efferent nerves which innervate the vascular and visceral systems. One of the main points of that investigation was the proof that such nerves did not leave the central nervous system uniformly along the whole length of it, but in three great outflows, cranial, thoracico-lumbar, and sacral; there being two marked gaps separating the three outflows, caused by the interpolation of the plexuses for the innervation of the anterior and posterior limbs respectively. All these nerves are characterized by the presence of ganglion-cells in their course to the periphery, they are, therefore, distinguished from ordinary motor nerves to striated muscle in that their impulses pass through a ganglion-cell before they reach the muscle.
The ganglia of the large middle thoracico-lumbar outflow constitute the ganglia of the sympathetic system.
The functions of the nerves constituting these three outflows are very different, as I pointed out in my original papers. Since then a large amount of further information has been obtained by various observers, especially Langley and Anderson, which enable the following statements to be made:—
All the nerves which cause contraction of the unstriped muscles of the skin, whether pilomotor or not, all the nerves which cause secretion of sweat glands wherever situated, all the nerves which cause contraction or augmentation of the action of muscles belonging to the vascular system, all the nerves which are motor to the muscles belonging to all organs derived from the Wolffian and Müllerian ducts, e.g. the uterus, ureters, urethra, arise from the thoracico-lumbar outflow, never from the cranial or sacral outflows. It is essentially an efferent skin-system.
On the other hand, the latter two sets of nerves are concerned ​with the supply of motor nerves to the alimentary canal; they form essentially an efferent gut-system in contradistinction to the sympathetic or skin-system.
A marked distinction exists between these cranial and sacral nerves. The vagus never supplies the large intestine, the sacral nerves never supply the small intestine. Associated with the large intestine is the bladder, the whole system arising from the original cloacal region; the vagus never supplies the bladder, its motor nerves belong to the sacral outflow. The motor nerves to the ureters, to the urethra, and to the trigonal portion of the bladder between the ureters and the urethra, do not arise from the sacral outflow, but from the thoracico-lumbar. These muscles belong really to the muscles in connection with the Müllerian and Wolffian ducts and skin, not to the cloacal region.
The motor innervation then of the alimentary canal reveals this striking and suggestive state of affairs. The motor innervation of the whole of the small intestine arises from the cranial region, and is immediately followed by an innervation from the sacral region for the whole of the muscles of the cloaca. It thus indicates a head-region and a tail-region in close contiguity, the whole of the spinal cord region between these two extremes being apparently unrepresented. Not, however, quite unrepresented, for Elliott has shown recently that the ileo-colic valve at the junction of the small and large intestine is in reality an ileo-colic sphincter muscle, and that this muscle receives its motor nerves neither from the vagus nor from the sacral nerves, but from the thoracico-lumbar outflow or sympathetic system. This may mean one of two things, either that a band of fibres belonging to the skin-system has been added to the gut-musculature, for the purpose of forming a sphincter at this spot, or that the region between the vagus territory and the cloaca is represented by this small band of muscle. The second explanation seems to me the more probable of the two. Between the mesosomatic region represented by the vagus, and the cloacal region, there existed a small metasomatic region, represented by the pronephros, with its segmental duct, as already discussed in Chapter XII. That part of the new alimentary canal which belonged to this region is the short piece indicated by the ileo-colic sphincter, and innervated, therefore, from the same region as the organs derived from the segmental duct.
Such innervation seems to me to suggest that originally the ​vertebrate consisted, as far as its gut was concerned, of a prosomatic and mesosomatic (branchial) region, close behind which came the cloaca and anus. Between the two there was a short metasomatic region (possibly pronephric), so that the respiratory chamber did not open directly into the cloaca.
Such an interpretation is, I think, borne out by the study of the most ancient forms of fish. In Bothriolepis, according to Patten, and in Drepanaspis, according to Traquair, the cloacal region and anus follow immediately upon the posterior end of the head-shield, i.e. immediately after that region which presumably contained the branchiæ. Similarly, on the invertebrate side, all those forms which resembled Limulus must have possessed a very short region between the branchial and cloacal parts of the body. The original cloacal part of the vertebrate gut may well have been the original cloaca of the arthropod, into which its intestine emptied itself, especially when we see the tendency of the scorpion group of animals to form an accessory cloacal pouch known as the stercoral pouch or pocket.
Again, it is striking to see how, in certain of the scorpion group, e.g. Thelyphonus and Phrynus, there is a caudal massing of the central nerve-cells as well as a cephalic massing, so that their central nervous system is composed of a cephalic and caudal brain. These two brains are connected together by commissures extending the whole length of the body, in which I have been unable to find any sign of ganglion-cells. What this caudal brain innervates I do not know; it is, I think, a matter worth further investigation, especially as there are many indications in the vertebrate that the lumbo-sacral region of the cord possesses higher functions than the thoracic region.
The method of formation of the alimentary canal as indicated by its innervation is as follows:—
In front an oral chamber, formed, as already pointed out, by the modification of the prosomatic appendages, followed by a respiratory chamber, the muscles and branchiæ of which were the muscles and branchiæ of the mesosomatic appendages. This mesosomatic, or branchial, part was in close contiguity to the cloaca and anus, being separated from it only by a short tube formed in the metasomatic or pronephric region.
I imagine that this connection was originally in the form of an ​open groove, as already explained for both notochord and the anterior part of the gut itself in Ammocœtes; an open groove formed from the mid-ventral surface of the body, on each side of which were the remnants of the pronephric appendages. By the closure of this groove ventrally, and the growing round of the pleural folds, as already suggested, the remains of the pronephric appendages are indicated by the segmental duct and the form of the vertebrate body is attained.
Even in the branchial region the same kind of thing must, I think, have occurred. The grooved ventral surface became a tube, on each side of which were lying in regular order the in-sunk branchial appendages, the whole being subsequently covered by the pleural folds to form an atrial chamber. A tube thus formed from the grooved ventral surface would carry with it to the new ventral surface the longitudinal venous sinuses, and thus form, in the way already suggested, the heart and ventral aorta. Posterior to the heart in the pronephric region, the same process would give rise to the sub-intestinal vein.
The evidence of comparative anatomy bears out most conclusively the suggestion that in the original vertebrate the gut was mainly a respiratory chamber. In man and all mammals the oral chamber opens into a small pharynx, followed by the œsophagus, stomach and small intestine. Of this whole length, a very small part is taken up by the pharynx, in which, in the embryo, the branchial arches are found, showing that this represents the original respiratory part of the gut. In the ordinary fish this branchial part is much more conspicuous, occupies a large proportion of the gut, and in the lowest fishes, such as Ammocœtes and Amphioxus, the branchial region extends over a large portion of the animal, while the intestine proper is a straight tube, the length of which is insignificant in comparison with its length in the higher vertebrates.
Such a tube was able to act as a digestive tube, owing, as already pointed out, to the digestive powers of the skin-epithelium, and I imagine at first the respiratory chamber, seeing that it composed very nearly the whole of the gut, was at the same time the main digestive chamber; even in Ammocœtes its digestive power is superior to that of the intestine itself.
Just posterior to the branchial part a diverticulum of the gut was formed at an early stage, as seen in Amphioxus, and provided the ​commencement of the liver. This simple liver-diverticulum became the tubular liver of Ammocœtes, and formed, curiously enough, not a glandular organ of the same character as the liver of the higher vertebrates, but a hepato-pancreas, like the so-called liver of the arthropods, which also is a special diverticulum of the gut, or rather the main true gut of the animal. In both cases the liver is the chief agent in digestion, for in Ammocœtes the liver-extract is very much more powerful in the digestion of proteids than the extract of any other organ tried by Miss Alcock. Subsequently in the vertebrate the gastric and pancreatic glands arise and relieve the liver of the burden of proteid digestion.
It is, to my mind, somewhat significant that the liver on its first formation in the vertebrate should have arisen as a digestive organ of the same character as the so-called liver in the arthropods; whether it originally belonged to any separate segment is in our present state of knowledge difficult to say.
Conclusion.
In conclusion, I will endeavour to illustrate crudely the way in which, on my theory, the notochord and vertebrate gut may have been formed, the agencies at work being in the main two, viz. the dwindling of appendages as mere organs of locomotion, and the conversion of a ventral groove into a tube.
I imagine that, among the Protostraca, forms were found somewhat resembling trilobites with markedly polychætan affinities; which, like Apus, possessed a deep ventral groove from one end of the body to the other, and also pleural fringes, as in many trilobites. This might be called the Trilobite stage (Fig. 167, A).
This groove became converted into a tube and so gave rise to the notochord, while the appendages were still free and the pleuræ had not met to form a new ventral surface. This might be called the Chordate Trilobite stage (Fig. 167, B).
Then, passing from the protostracan to the palæostracan stage, the oral and respiratory chambers were formed, not communicating with each other, in the manner described in previous chapters, a ventral groove in the metasomatic region being the only connection between respiratory chamber and cloaca. This might be called the Chordate Palæostracan stage (Fig. 167, C).
​Finally, with the conversion of this groove into a tube, the opening of the oral into the respiratory chamber, and the formation of an atrium by the ventralwards growth of the pleural folds, the formation of a Vertebrate was completed (Fig. 167, D).
In my own mind I picture to myself an animal which possessed eurypterid and trilobite characters combined, in which a notochordal tube had been formed in the way suggested, and a respiratory chamber which communicated with the cloaca by means of a grooved channel along the mid-ventral line of the metasomatic portion of the body. On each side of this channel were the remains of the metasomatic appendages (pronephric). The whole was enveloped in the pleural folds, which probably at this time did not yet meet in the middle line to form a new ventral surface. This respiratory chamber, owing to the digestive power of the epidermis, assisted in the process of alimentation to such an extent as to supersede the temporary notochordal tube, with the effect of bringing about the conversion of the metasomatic groove into a closed canal, and so the formation of an alimentary tube continuous with the respiratory chamber. The amalgamation of the pleural folds ventrally completed the process, and so formed an animal resembling the Cephalaspidæ, Ammocœtes, or Amphioxus.
I have endeavoured in this chapter to make some suggestions upon the origin of the notochord and of the vertebrate gut in accordance with my theory of the origin of vertebrates. I feel, however, strongly that these suggestions are much more speculative than those put forward in the previous chapters, and of necessity cannot give the same feeling of soundness as those based directly upon comparative anatomy and histology. Still, the fact remains that the origin of the notochord is at present absolutely unknown, and that my speculation that it may have originated as an accessory digestive tube is at all events in accordance with the most widely spread opinion that it arises in close connection with an alimentary canal.