ABSTRACT
Fig. 47.a They are now called dermatomes, and their topography has been much refined in more recent researches;b the chart of Keegan & Garrett (I) is shown in Fig. 48. Here it is instructive to note how the segmental character of the nerve distributions on the trunk-reminiscent indeed of an insect drawn out into extended longitudinal areas on all four extremities. This means that the acupuncture tracts on the arms and legs course for long distances within the same dermatome.C So also the auxiliary tract Tai Mol (p. 45) cinctures the body along the last thoracic and the first lumbar dermatomes.d So also, as has been demonstrated in Anon. (128), the pei shu hsueh2 points on regular tract VU (p. 66) are each one on the same dermatome level as the segmental nerve supply of the organs after which they are named.e And this must give equal importance to the median line acu-points on the regulative auxiliary tracts Tu M03 and Jen M04 (cf. pp. 49, 5o).f In contemporary Chinese medicine and acupuncture there is of course a full consciousness of the Head Zones and the dermatomes.g That they must have a great bearing on the phenomena of acupuncture is undoubted, but much neuro-physiological work remains to be done before all is clear; different acu-points may have different actions within the same dermatome, there may be influences radiating to neighbouring dermatomes, or even skipping one or two, and long inter-segmental Sherrington reflexes probably play a considerable part as well.
