THERE is need for clarification of the reports upon disturbances in functions of the sympathetic nervous system in acute anterior poliomyelitis. Often coupled with reference to the work of others, and with reports of authors themselves upon pathologic changes in the intermediolateral column of cells and in the ganglia of the sympathetic chain, is a description of some change in function of the sympathetic nervous system, leading to the assumption that the dysfunction noted is related to the pathologic changes described. For the most part, evidence of such dysfunction has consisted of some one sign or symptom, such as excessive sweating, increased electrical skin resistance in the axillae, or temporary retention of urine during the acute stage. At times more comprehensive studies have been made, including determinations of skin temperature and oscillometry, during the acute stage, as well as late after the onset of the disease.1
Far from demonstrating