NEUMAYR, FRANZ. - Jesuit, preacher, and spiritual writer, born in Munich on 17 January 1697, died in Augsburg on 1 May 1765. Professor of belles-lettres and director of the great Latin Congregation in Munich, from 1752 he served as cathedral preacher in Augsburg with extraordinary success, while employing his artistic talent in composing educational scenes and dramas of classical beauty and his theological and ascetical depth in service to the faith against the Lutherans and for the edification and perfection of the faithful.
Of his numerous works (112), perhaps the most valuable for vigor and topicality of subject and form are the series of questions under the title *Frag: ob* (Ask:
whether...). Thus, the first produces: mydriasis (dilation of the pupils), tachycardia (acceleration of the heartbeat), inhibition of peristalsis (i.e., intestinal motility), vasoconstriction (narrowing of the vascular lumen) and engorgement of the skin and viscera, vasodilation (widening of the vascular lumen) of the brain, heart, and skeletal muscles, and inhibition of glandular secretions; the second, by contrast, produces entirely opposite effects: miosis (constriction of the pupil), bradycardia (slowing of the heartbeat), peristalsis, vasodilation of the skin and viscera, etc.
It has been demonstrated that when the sympathetic or parasympathetic systems are activated, specific chemical substances (adrenaline and acetylcholine, respectively) are produced in the vegetative structures, which in turn promote responses in the sympathetic or vagal direction. Vegetative functions would thus be carried out from nerves to organs through the “mediation” of these substances (theory of “dicitric” neurons), and for this reason sympathetic fibers are also called “adrenergic,” while parasympathetic fibers are termed “cholinergic.” Adrenaline can be rapidly and abundantly produced by the adrenal gland; as soon as the sympathetic system is activated, a sudden discharge of adrenaline occurs in the adrenal gland, quickly reaching all organs via the bloodstream and activating them en masse in a sympathetic direction. The sympathetic system tends, in fact, to recruit all its functions simultaneously (by “sympathy”), whereas the parasympathetic system can act separately, i.e., in each organ independently of the others. This mass action, characteristic of the sympathetic system, is of essential importance for its activity in response to necessity, and the organism can activate it immediately through an adrenaline discharge in moments of need, emergency, danger, or emotional states. The sympathetic system, in fact, mobilizes all bodily energy to place the organism in the best conditions to confront danger and defend itself. Mydriasis represents an enhancement of visual function, tachycardia and visceral-cutaneous vasoconstriction rapidly divert all blood to the heart, brain, and skeletal muscles—organs whose performance is essential to overcome danger, obstacles, or exertion. The parasympathetic system, on the other hand, is devoted to the protection and restoration of bodily reserves; indeed, miosis reduces light stimuli, bradycardia and myocardial energy recovery, vasodilation and intestinal peristalsis promote all essential processes for the restoration and accumulation of bodily reserves (digestion, nutrient absorption, etc.).
In vegetative organs, there exist nerve fibers devoted to collecting and intercepting all chemical, mechanical, etc., stimuli (“enteroceptive sensitivity”) and conveying them to the central nervous system, where they are transmitted to sympathetic or vagal centers according to their nature and significance. The hypothalamus is the regulatory center of these responses and ensures the proper balance between vagus and sympathetic (balance between vagal tone and sympathetic tone).