sympathetic (simp a the tik)

and n. [Cf. sympathetic us (in technical use); Cold reserve had lost its power In sorrow's sympathetic hour. Scott , Rokeby, v. 11. The sympathetic or social feelings are not so strong between different communities as between individuals of the same community. Calhoun , Works, I. 9. It is a doctrine alike of the oldest and of the newest philosophy that man is one, and that you cannot injure any member without a sympathetic injury to all the mem bers. Emerson, West Indian Emancipation. The sentiment of justice is nothing but a sympathetic affection of the instinct of personal rights a sort of reflex function of it. H. Spencer , Social Statics, p. 116. 2. Having sympathy or common feeling with another; susceptible of being affected by feelings like those of another, or of altruistic feelings which arise as a consequence of what another feels. Your sympathetic Hearts she hopes to move. Prior , Epilogue to Mrs. Manby's Lucius. Wiser he, whose sympathetic mind Exults in all the good of all mankind. Goldsmith, Traveller, 1. 43. 3. Harmonious; concordant; congenial. Now o'er the soothed accordant heart we feel A sympathetic twilight slowly steal. Words worth, An Evening Walk. My imagination, which I suppose at bottom had very good reasons of its own and knew perfectly what it was about, refused to project into the dark old town and upon the yellow hills that sympathetic glow which forms half the substance of our genial impre ions. H. James, Jr., Trans. Sketches, p. 291. 4. In an at. and zoöl., effecting a sympathy or consentaneous affection of the viscera and blood-ve els; uniting viscera and blood-ve els in a nervous action common to them all; inhibitory of or controlling the vital activities of viscera and blood-ve els, which are thereby subjected to a common nervous influence; specifically, of or pertaining to a special set of nerves or nervous system called the sympa thetic. See below.-5. In acoustics, noting sounds induced not by a direct vibration-producing force, but by vibrations conveyed through the air or other medium from a body already in vibration. The phenomena of resonance are properly examples of sympathetic sound. Sympathetic headache, pains in the head as the result of comparatively distant irritations. - Sympathetic ink. See ink1. - Sympathetic nerve, a nerve of the sympathetic system; in particular, one of the two main gangliated cords extending the whole length of the vertebral column. These ganglia, in man, correspond in number to the vertebræ against which they lie, except in the neck, where there are three pairs, and on the coccyx, where there is but a single one, the ganglion impar. Communicating branches, rami com muni can tes, rami viscera les, to and from the spinal and some of the cranial nerves, unite the sympathetic system with the cerebrospinal axis. The branches of distribution of the sympathetic system supply chiefly the trunk-viscera and the walls of the blood ve els and lymphatics. The sympathetic nerves differ from the cerebrospinal nerves in having generally a grayish or reddish color, and in the greater number and more widely distributed ganglia connected with them. The sympathetic nerve is also called great sympathetic, tri splanchnic, ganglionic. Sympathetic nervous system. (a) In vertebrates, a set of nerves consisting e entially of a longitudinal series of ganglia on each side of the spinal axis, connected by commi ures or commi ural nerve-fibers, forming a double chain from head to tail, and giving off numerous branches which form special plexuses sympathize in the principal cavities of the body, and other plexuses surrounding and accompanying the viscera and blood ve els, distinct from but intimately connected by anastomoses with the nerves of the cerebrospinal system. In man the sympathetic system consists (1) of the two main gangliated chains above described; (2) of four pairs of cranial ganglia; (3) of three great gangliated plexuses or sympathetic plexuses, in the thoracic, abdominal, and pelvic cavities respectively; (4) of smaller ganglia in connection with the abdominal and other viscera; (5) of communicating nerves or commi ures, whereby these ganglia or plexuses are connected with one another and with nerves of the cerebrospinal system; (6) of distributory nerves supplying the viscera and ve els, whereby the sympathetic reaches all parts of the body. See gan glion and plexus. (b) In invertebrates, as Vermes, a posterior part of the visceral nervous system, pa ing on to the enteric tube, and corresponding to a true enteric nervous system: so called in view of its physiological relations, without reference to the actual homology implied with the sympathetic system of a vertebrate. - Sympа together chance. thetic numbers absurdly supposympathetic ophthalmia, inflammation of one eye due to lesion in the opposite eye. - Sympathetic powder. See powder. - Sympathetic resonance, the communication of vibration from one sounding body to another in its proximity. liquid or solid body. - Sympathetic string, in various cla es of stringed musical instruments, a string that is intended to be sounded by sympathetic vibration, and not by direct excitation. II. n. 1. The sympathetic nervous system, or the sympathetic nerve.-2. One who is peculiarly susceptible, as to hypnotic or mesmeric influences; a sensitive. Favorable conditions may make any one hypnotic to some extent, in a degree sufficient, perhaps, to dull the physical vision and excite the mental vision. Naturally enough a company of sympathetics may be similarly influenced. N. A. Rev., CXLVI. 705.