The Serpent Power — Arthur Avalon (Sir John Woodroffe) (1924)
the dorsal region, or region of the back, consisting of twelve vertebræ; and the cervical region, or region of the neck, consisting of seven vertebræ. As exhibited by segments, the cord shows different characteristics in different regions. Roughly speaking, these correspond to the regions which are assigned to the governing control of the Mūlādhāra, Svādhishthāna, Manipūra, Anāhata, and Vishuddha centres, or Chakras. The central system has relation with the periphery through the thirty-one spinal and twelve cranial nerves, which are both afferent and efferent or sensory and motor, arousing sensation or stimulating action. Of the cranial nerves, the last six arise from the spinal bulb (medulla), and the other six, except the olfactory and optic nerves, from the parts of the brain just in front of the bulb. Writers of the Yoga and Tantra schools use the term Nādī, by preference, for nerves. They also, it has been said, mean cranial nerves when they speak of Shiras, never using the latter for arteries, as is done in the medical literature.¹ It must, however, be noted that the Yoga Nādīs are not the ordinary material nerves, but subtler lines of direction along which the vital forces go. The spinal nerves, after their exit from the intervertebral foramina, enter into communication with the gangliated cords of the sympathetic nervous system, which lie on each side of the vertebral column. The spinal cord extends in the case of man from the upper border of the atlas, below the cerebellum, passing into the medulla, and finally opening into the fourth ventricle of the brain, and descends to the second lumbar vertebra, where it tapers to a point, called the filum terminale. I am told that recent microscopic investigations by Dr. Cunningham have disclosed the existence of highly sensitive grey matter in the filum terminale which was hitherto thought to be mere fibrous cord. This is of importance, having regard to the position assigned to the Mūlādhāra and the Serpent Power. It is continued in this for a variable distance, and there ends blindly. Within the bony covering is the cord, which is a compound of grey and white brain matter, the grey being the inner of the two, the reverse of the position in the encephalon. The cord is divided into two symmetrical halves, which are connected together by a commissure in the centre of which there is a minute canal called the central spinal canal (wherein is the Brahmanādī), which is said to be the remnant of the hollow tube from which the cord and brain were developed.¹ This canal contains cerebro-spinal fluid. The grey matter viewed longitudinally forms a column extending through the whole length of the cord, but the width is not uniform. There are special enlargements in the lumbar and cervical regions which are due mainly to the greater amount of grey matter in these situations. But throughout the whole cord the grey matter is specially abundant at the junctions of the spinal nerves, so that a necklace arrangement is visible, which is more apparent in the lower vertebrates, corresponding to the ventral ganglionic chain of the invertebrates.² The white matter consists of tracts or columns of nerve fibres. At the upper border of the atlas, or first cervical vertebra, the spinal cord passes into the medulla oblongata below the cerebellum. The centre canal opens into the fourth ventricle of the brain. The cerebellum is a development of the posterior wall of the hindermost of the three primary dilatations of the embryonic cerebro-spinal tube, the fourth ventricle constituting the remnant of the original cavity. Above this is the cerebrum, which with the parts below it is an enlarged and greatly modified upper part of the cerebro-spinal nervous axis. The spinal cord is not merely a conductor between the periphery and the centres of sensation and volition, but is also an independent centre or group of centres. There are various centres in the spinal cord which, though to a considerable extent autonomous, is connected together with the higher centres by the associating and longitudinal tracts of the spinal cord.¹ All the functions which are ascribed primarily to the spinal centres belong also in an ultimate sense to the cerebral centres. Similarly, all the “Letters” which exist distributed on the petals of the lotuses exist in the Sahasrāra. The centres influence not only the muscular combinations concerned in volitional movements, but also the functions of vascular innervation, secretion, and the like, which have their proximate centres in the spinal cord. The cerebral centres are said, however, to control these functions only in relation with the manifestations of volition, feeling, and emotion; whereas the spinal centres with the subordinate sympathetic system are said to constitute the mechanism of unconscious adaptation, in accordance with the varying conditions of stimuli which are essential to the continued existence of the organism. The Medulla, again, is also both a path of communication between the higher centres
1 Dr. Brojendranath Seal, p. 337, Appendix to Professor Benoy Kumar Sarkar’s “Positive Background of Hindu Sociology”. The word Dhamanī is also used for nerve. It is to be noted, however, that the present work uses Shiras for other than cranial nerves, for in v. 1 it calls Idā and Pinggalā Nādīs or Shirās.
1 See Ferrier’s “Functions of the Brain”.
2 Ib., 7.
1 See Ferrier’s “Functions of the Brain,” p. 80.
the dorsal region, or region of the back, consisting of twelve vertebræ; and the cervical region, or region of the neck, consisting of seven vertebræ. As exhibited by segments, the cord shows different characteristics in different regions. Roughly speaking, these correspond to the regions which are assigned to the governing control of the Mūlādhāra, Svādhishthāna, Manipūra, Anāhata, and Vishuddha centres, or Chakras. The central system has relation with the periphery through the thirty-one spinal and twelve cranial nerves, which are both afferent and efferent or sensory and motor, arousing sensation or stimulating action. Of the cranial nerves, the last six arise from the spinal bulb (medulla), and the other six, except the olfactory and optic nerves, from the parts of the brain just in front of the bulb. Writers of the Yoga and Tantra schools use the term Nādī, by preference, for nerves. They also, it has been said, mean cranial nerves when they speak of Shiras, never using the latter for arteries, as is done in the medical literature.¹ It must, however, be noted that the Yoga Nādīs are not the ordinary material nerves, but subtler lines of direction along which the vital forces go. The spinal nerves, after their exit from the intervertebral foramina, enter into communication with the gangliated cords of the sympathetic nervous system, which lie on each side of the vertebral column. The spinal cord extends in the case of man from the upper border of the atlas, below the cerebellum, passing into the medulla, and finally opening into the fourth ventricle of the brain, and descends to the second lumbar vertebra, where it tapers to a point, called the filum terminale. I am told that recent microscopic investigations by Dr. Cunningham have disclosed the existence of highly sensitive grey matter in the filum terminale which was hitherto thought to be mere fibrous cord. This is of importance, having regard to the position assigned to the Mūlādhāra and the Serpent Power. It is continued in this for a variable distance, and there ends blindly. Within the bony covering is the cord, which is a compound of grey and white brain matter, the grey being the inner of the two, the reverse of the position in the encephalon. The cord is divided into two symmetrical halves, which are connected together by a commissure in the centre of which there is a minute canal called the central spinal canal (wherein is the Brahmanādī), which is said to be the remnant of the hollow tube from which the cord and brain were developed.¹ This canal contains cerebro-spinal fluid. The grey matter viewed longitudinally forms a column extending through the whole length of the cord, but the width is not uniform. There are special enlargements in the lumbar and cervical regions which are due mainly to the greater amount of grey matter in these situations. But throughout the whole cord the grey matter is specially abundant at the junctions of the spinal nerves, so that a necklace arrangement is visible, which is more apparent in the lower vertebrates, corresponding to the ventral ganglionic chain of the invertebrates.² The white matter consists of tracts or columns of nerve fibres. At the upper border of the atlas, or first cervical vertebra, the spinal cord passes into the medulla oblongata below the cerebellum. The centre canal opens into the fourth ventricle of the brain. The cerebellum is a development of the posterior wall of the hindermost of the three primary dilatations of the embryonic cerebro-spinal tube, the fourth ventricle constituting the remnant of the original cavity. Above this is the cerebrum, which with the parts below it is an enlarged and greatly modified upper part of the cerebro-spinal nervous axis. The spinal cord is not merely a conductor between the periphery and the centres of sensation and volition, but is also an independent centre or group of centres. There are various centres in the spinal cord which, though to a considerable extent autonomous, is connected together with the higher centres by the associating and longitudinal tracts of the spinal cord.¹ All the functions which are ascribed primarily to the spinal centres belong also in an ultimate sense to the cerebral centres. Similarly, all the “Letters” which exist distributed on the petals of the lotuses exist in the Sahasrāra. The centres influence not only the muscular combinations concerned in volitional movements, but also the functions of vascular innervation, secretion, and the like, which have their proximate centres in the spinal cord. The cerebral centres are said, however, to control these functions only in relation with the manifestations of volition, feeling, and emotion; whereas the spinal centres with the subordinate sympathetic system are said to constitute the mechanism of unconscious adaptation, in accordance with the varying conditions of stimuli which are essential to the continued existence of the organism. The Medulla, again, is also both a path of communication between the higher centres
1 Dr. Brojendranath Seal, p. 337, Appendix to Professor Benoy Kumar Sarkar’s “Positive Background of Hindu Sociology”. The word Dhamanī is also used for nerve. It is to be noted, however, that the present work uses Shiras for other than cranial nerves, for in v. 1 it calls Idā and Pinggalā Nādīs or Shirās.
1 See Ferrier’s “Functions of the Brain”.
2 Ib., 7.
1 See Ferrier’s “Functions of the Brain,” p. 80.
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