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Victim (1961 film)

Victim is a 1961 British neo-noir suspense film directed by Basil Dearden and starring Dirk Bogarde and Sylvia Syms. The first British film to explicitly name homosexuality and deal with it sympathetically, it premiered in the UK on 31 August 1961 and in the US the following February.

On its release in the United Kingdom, the film proved highly controversial to the British Board of Film Censors, and in the US it was refused a seal of approval from the American Motion Picture Production Code. Despite this, it received acclaim and is now regarded as a British classic, and it has been credited with liberalising attitudes towards homosexuality in Great Britain.

Plot
Melville Farr is a successful barrister with a thriving London practice. He is on course to become a Queen's Counsel, and people are already talking of him being appointed a judge. One day, Farr receives a call from Jack "Boy" Barrett, a young working-class gay man with whom he previously had a romantic friendship. Farr, who is apparently happily married to Laura, assumes Barrett wants to blackmail him about their relationship, so he does not listen and tells Barrett not to call him again. In reality, however, Barrett has been trying to reach Farr to appeal for help, because he has fallen prey to blackmailers who have a picture of Farr and Barrett in a vehicle together. The image is somewhat compromising, as Barrett is crying and Farr's arm is around him, so Barrett stole £2,300 (£ today) from his employers to pay the blackmail, but he has been found out and now the police are pursuing him, so he needs financial assistance to flee the country. After managing to borrow £20 from a friend, Barrett is picked up by the police, who quickly deduce that he is being blackmailed, and even make a connection to Farr when they recover a scrapbook of articles that Barrett was unable to successfully destroy before his capture. Knowing it will only be a matter of time before he is forced to reveal the details of the blackmail scheme and Farr's role, Barrett hangs himself in a police cell.

After learning the truth about how Barrett had tried to protect him, Farr decides to take on the blackmail ring, recruiting Eddy, Barrett's friend and roommate, to identify others whom the blackmailers may be targeting. Eddy directs Farr to Henry, a hairdresser, but Henry refuses to identify his tormentors to Farr. When one of the blackmailers, a young man who goes by "Sandy", visits Henry's salon and begins to destroy it, Henry suffers a heart attack. Just before dying, he calls Farr's house and leaves a mumbled message that names another victim of the blackmailers.

Following up on the lead, Farr contacts a prominent stage actor named Calloway, but Calloway also refuses to help, as he would prefer to continue paying and keep his sexuality secret. Laura finds out about Barrett's suicide and confronts her husband. After a heated argument, during which Farr maintains that he has kept the promise he made when they married that he would no longer indulge his homosexual attraction, Laura decides that Farr has betrayed that promise by having a relationship with Barrett, even if it was not physical, and openly begins to consider leaving him.

Eddy identifies a car salesman named Phip as another victim of the blackmailers, and Farr gets Phip to let him go to an appointment with Sandy by offering to buy back the letters that are being used to blackmail Phip. Farr tells Sandy that he wants Phip's letters and the negatives of the pictures of him and Barrett. Sandy consults with his partner, and then, to put pressure on Farr, vandalises Farr's Chiswick home by painting "FARR IS QUEER" on the garage door.

Undeterred, Farr works with the police to capture the blackmailers after they pick up his money for the letters and negatives, and they discover that Sandy was working with Miss Benham, who wants to make homosexuals "pay for their filthy blasphemy", and that the duo started getting information about their marks from Phip once he could no longer afford to keep paying them. Farr promises to testify at the blackmailers' trial, even though the ensuing press coverage will certainly destroy his career and reputation, as he hopes his involvement will help draw attention to the problems with the existing laws against homosexuality.

Surprised to find Laura still at home, Farr tells her to leave town before the ugliness of the trial. When she asks if she should return afterward, he says he will welcome her back, as he will "need [her] so desperately." She responds that "need" is "a bigger word than 'love'" and says she thinks she has the strength to stand by him. After Laura leaves, Farr burns a print of the suggestive photograph of him and Barrett.

Background
Homosexual acts between males were illegal in England and Wales until the Sexual Offences Act 1967, which implemented the recommendations of the Wolfenden report published a decade earlier. The fact that willing participants in consensual homosexual acts could be prosecuted made them vulnerable to entrapment, and the criminalisation of homosexuality was known as the "blackmailer's charter". Homosexuals were prosecuted and tabloid newspapers covered the court proceedings. By 1960, however, the police demonstrated little enthusiasm for prosecuting those engaged in homosexual activity. There was an inclination to "turn a blind eye" to homosexuality, because there was a feeling that the legal code violated basic liberties. However, public opprobrium, even in the absence of criminal prosecution, continued to require homosexuals to keep their identity secret and made them vulnerable to blackmail. The film treats homosexuality in a non-sensationalised manner.

The scriptwriter Janet Green had previously collaborated with Basil Dearden on a British "social problem" film, Sapphire (1959), which dealt with racism against Afro-Caribbean immigrants to the United Kingdom in the late 1950s. After reading the Wolfenden report, and knowing of several high-profile prosecutions of gay men, Green became a keen supporter of homosexual law reform. She wrote the screenplay with her husband John McCormick. Despite its then controversial subject, the film was, in other respects, quite conventional in being quite chaste. Farr has not had sex with Barrett, nor with the man he loved at university. The audience is allowed just one glimpse of the photo of Farr and Barrett (seen from the obverse of the print), and the screenplay underscores the fact that only Barrett's tears suggest anything untoward, along with the breaking of social taboos in that they are different classes and far apart in age. In addition, the film promises that Farr and Laura will remain united and faithful to one another. As Pauline Kael wrote: "The hero of the film is a man who has never given way to his homosexual impulses; he has fought them–that's part of his heroism. Maybe that's why he seems such a stuffy stock figure of a hero... The dreadful irony involved is that Dirk Bogarde looks so pained, so anguished from the self-sacrifice of repressing his homosexuality that the film seems to give rather a black eye to heterosexual life."

The language the screenplay used to describe its controversial subject attracted comment. It used "the familiar colloquial terms", wrote one reviewer without specifying them, even as he referred to "homosexuality", "the abnormality", and "the condition". The term "queer" – then a pejorative term not yet adopted by advocates for LGBT rights – is used several times in the film, and "FARR IS QUEER" is painted on Farr's garage door. The more polite term "invert" appears as well.

Casting
When the team of producer Michael Relph and director Basil Dearden first approached Bogarde, several actors had already turned down the role, including Jack Hawkins, James Mason, and Stewart Granger. In 1960, Bogarde was 39 and had been chosen by British audiences as their favourite British film star for years, having spent the past 14 years being cast as a matinée idol by The Rank Organisation. He had proven himself playing war heroes in films such as The Sea Shall Not Have Them (1954) and Ill Met by Moonlight (1957), he was the star of the hugely successful Doctor film series, and he had been a reliable romantic lead in films such as A Tale of Two Cities (1958). He was also flirting with a larger, Hollywood career, having recently played Franz Liszt in Song Without End (1960).

Bogarde was suspected to be homosexual and lived in the same house as his business manager, Anthony Forwood, so he was compelled to be seen occasionally in public with attractive young women. He seems not to have hesitated to accept the role of Farr, a married lawyer with a homosexual past that he has not quite put behind him. Reportedly, Bogarde himself wrote the scene in which Farr admits to his wife that he is gay and has continued to be attracted to other men, despite his earlier assurances to the contrary.

Of his first independent film project and 34th film, Bogarde said in 1965: "For the first time I was playing my own age. At Rank, the fixed rule was that I had to look pretty. Victim ended all that nonsense." He wrote years later in his autobiography that his father had suggested he make an adaptation of The Mayor of Casterbridge, "But I did Victim instead, ... playing the barrister with the loving wife, a loyal housekeeper, devoted secretary and the Secret Passion. It was the wisest decision I ever made in my cinematic life. It is extraordinary, in this over-permissive age [c. 1988], to believe that this modest film could ever have been considered courageous, daring or dangerous to make. It was, in its time, all three."

Similarly, though several actresses had turned down the role, Sylvia Syms readily accepted the part of Laura. English film critic Mark Kermode has noted her reasons for this included previous theatre work with John Gielgud, which exposed her to the laws surrounding homosexuality at the time, and that a family friend of hers had died by suicide after being accused of being gay. Consequently, Sims felt the film's story had to be told. Some of the cast members who were gay in real life include Dennis Price and Hilton Edwards.

Filming
Syms later recalled that filming had to be completed in just 10 days. Shooting locations included The Salisbury, Covent Garden. The film's original title of Boy Barrett was changed to Victim late in production. Relph and Dearden acknowledged that the film was designed to be "an open protest against Britain's law that being a homosexual is a criminal act".

British censor
An official of the British Board of Film Censors (BBFC) had set out its view of homosexuality in film: "to the great majority of cinema-goers, homosexuality is outside their direct experience and is something which is shocking, distasteful and disgusting". Relph said that in Victim, by contrast: "What I think we want to say is that the homosexual, although subject to a psychological or glandular variation from sexual normality, is a human being subject to all the emotions of other human beings, and as deserving of our understanding. Unless he sets out to corrupt others, it is wrong for the law to pillory him because of his inversion." He said Victim was "a story not of glands but of love."

Although a number of controversial scenes were cut before the film's release during discussions with the BBFC, including scenes with teenagers, the BBFC nevertheless gave the film an "X" rating—that is, "recommended for adults only"—a classification which was then usually reserved for erotica and horror films. In a letter to the filmmakers, the BBFC secretary raised four objections to the film. First, a male character says of another man: "I wanted him". Second, references to "self-control" in the revised script were omitted from the filmed discussion of homosexuality, leaving the discussion "without sufficient counterbalance". Third, the film implies that homosexuality is a choice, which "is a dangerous idea to put into the minds of adolescents who see the film". Finally, the one blackmailer who unleashes a tirade against homosexuality is so unsympathetic that the views expressed will be discredited.

US censor
In the United States, the Motion Picture Association of America's Production Code Administration, the film industry's self-censorship board that enforced the guidelines established by the Motion Picture Production Code, denied Victim its seal of approval. A spokesperson cited the film's "candid and clinical discussion of homosexuality" and its "overtly expressed pleas for social acceptance of the homosexual, to the extent that he be made socially tolerable". He noted that the subject of homosexuality was acceptable under the recently relaxed Production Code if handled with "care, discretion and restraint".

The head of the US distributor appealed the decision and announced the film would be released in February even if the appeal was denied. He described Victim as a "tasteful film on a delicate subject". A few years before the release of Victim, the filmmakers of Suddenly, Last Summer (1959) had persuaded the code censors to allow that film to use homosexuality as a plot device, but only by presenting it through cryptic innuendos, and the film had to illustrate the "horrors of such a lifestyle". Victim, in contrast, was deemed to be too frank in its treatment of homosexuality, and not initially approved by the censorship code.

In 1962, the Hollywood Production Code agreed to lift the ban on films using homosexuality as a plot device. A few years later, the code was replaced by the MPAA film rating system, which introduced an age-appropriate classification system for films. As attitudes became more liberal, the rating classifications for the film were revised, and when Victim was released on VHS in the US in 1986, it was rated PG-13.

Release and reception
Victim premiered at the Odeon Cinema in Leicester Square on 31 August 1961, and its US premiere occurred on 5 February 1962 at two theaters in New York. It was the only British entry in the Venice Film Festival in 1961, where an Italian critic commented: "at last the British have stopped being hypocrites".

Box office
The film was not a major hit, but it was popular, and by 1971 it had earned an estimated profit of £51,762.

Critical reception
British reviews of the film praised Bogarde's performance as his best and praised his courage in taking on the role. A London magazine called it "the most startlingly outspoken film Britain has ever produced". An anonymous reviewer in The Times commented that "Victim may not say a great deal about" the related issues of the nature of 'love' and gay men's "genuine feeling" for each other, "but what it does say is reasoned and just; and it does invite a compassionate consideration of this particular form of human bondage". However, Terence Kelly of Sight and Sound saw problems with the film, and wrote that Victim contains "a tour of the more respectable parts of the London homosexual underworld, with glimpses of the ways in which different men cope with or are destroyed by their abnormality", but he did comment that "the film unequivocally condemns the way" blackmail "is encouraged by the present state of the law".

Bosley Crowther wrote that the film "appears more substantial and impressive than its dramatic content justifies" because "it deals with a subject that heretofore has been studiously shied away from or but cautiously hinted at on the commercial screen". He found the script "routine" and "shoddily constructed" as drama, but successful as a political argument: "[A]s a frank and deliberate exposition of the well-known presence and plight of the tacit homosexual in modern society it is certainly unprecedented and intellectually bold. It makes no bones about the existence of the problem and about using the familiar colloquial terms. The very fact that homosexuality as a condition is presented honestly and unsensationally, with due regard for the dilemma and the pathos, makes this an extraordinary film." Crowther qualified his praise of Bogarde's acting, saying that "Dirk Bogarde does a strong, forceful, forthright job, with perhaps a little too much melancholy and distress in his attitude, now and again", and summed up his mixed view with the statement: "While the subject is disagreeable, it is not handled distastefully. And while the drama is not exciting, it has a definite intellectual appeal."

Chris Waters has argued that "Victim took for granted that homosexuality was a social problem that needed to be explored calmly and dispassionately" as a result of the "wake of the social dislocations associated with the war and the various anxieties to which they gave rise". He elaborated on this further by referring to Kenneth Soddy, a physician in the Department of Psychological Medicine at University College London Hospital, who wrote in 1954 that, while homosexuality itself did not trouble the community, its "social disturbance" during the war caused "variations in social and sexual practices which engenders attacks of acute public anxiety." As such, Waters argues that the film portrays homosexuality in a sensationalised way that would have deliberately drawn public attention to the issue.

Before the film was released in the US, a news report in The New York Times described it as a political work, saying: "the movie is a dramatized condemnation, based on the Wolfenden Report, of Britain's laws on homosexuality."

In relation to a BFI Southbank retrospective screening season of Bogarde's films, Peter Bradshaw argued that "it could be that Victim may come to be valued, 50 years on, not as a study of homosexuality, but of blackmail and paranoia." He pointed out that Farr never engages in homosexual acts, but, rather, "appears" to have a "passionate, unconsummated infatuation with a young man at university" and then, later, a liaison with a "young building-site worker", both unconsummated arrangements to prove his interest. Bradshaw wrote that Bogarde's lighting is more haunting than necessary in the confrontation scenes with his wife, and noticed similarities to the work of Patrick Hamilton, especially "the seedy, nasty world of pubs and drinking holes around ... London's West End", concluding his review with the statement: "It is perhaps in its evocation of the strange, occult world of blackmail, conspiracy and shame, and the seediness of a certain type of London, that Victim holds up best."

Victim became a highly sociologically significant film, and many believe it played an influential role in liberalising attitudes and the laws in Britain regarding homosexuality. Alan Burton conducted a 2010 study of "various documents relating to the Wolfenden Report, public opinion, censorship, and the production and reception of Victim," and found that the film, which "has attracted much criticism and debate, largely in terms of its liberal prescriptions and its 'timid' handling of a controversial theme", had "significant impact on gay men who struggled with their identity and subjectivity at a time when their sexuality was potentially illegal".

Home media
The film was released on DVD by The Criterion Collection in January 2011 as part of their "Eclipse Series" box set "Basil Dearden’s London Underground". It was released on Blu-ray by Network in July 2014.

Adaptations
The film's producers had a novelisation written by Arthur Calder-Marshall, who wrote under the name William Drummond. The novelisation differs from the film in some details—for example, "Farr" is "Carr" in the book—and there are some additional details—for example, in the book Carr wonders if he married Laura because she closely resembles her brother, with whom he has long been "sentimentally in love".

In July 2017, marking the 50th anniversary of the Sexual Offences Act, BBC Radio 3 broadcast a play dramatising the making of the film, with Ed Stoppard as Bogarde.

title: Victim (1961 film)


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Mission

Mission  (from Latin missio 'the act of sending out'), Missions or The Mission may refer to:

Australia

 * Mission River (Queensland)

Canada

 * Mission, British Columbia, a district municipality
 * Mission, Calgary, Alberta, a neighbourhood
 * Okanagan Mission, a neighbourhood in Kelowna, British Columbia, commonly called "the Mission"
 * Mission River, a short river located at the delta of the Kaministiquia River of northern Ontario, Canada

United States

 * Mission, Delaware, an unincorporated community
 * Mission, Kansas, a city
 * Mission, Michigan, an unincorporated community
 * Mission, Minnesota, an unincorporated community
 * Mission, Oregon, an unincorporated community and census-designated place
 * Mission, South Dakota, a city
 * Mission, Texas, a city
 * Mission District, San Francisco, a neighborhood in San Francisco, California, commonly called "the Mission"
 * South Pasadena station, a light rail station, formerly called Mission station
 * Mission River, Texas

Film and television

 * Mission (film), 1961 Soviet drama film by Yuri Yegorov
 * The Mission (2023 film), American documentary film about missionary John Allen Chau
 * Mission (2023 film), 2024 Indian Tamil-language action film by A. L. Vijay
 * The Mission (1983 film), an American drama film directed and produced by Parviz Sayyad
 * The Mission (1986 film), a British drama film directed by Roland Joffé
 * The Mission (1999 film), a.k.a. Cheung fo, a Hong Kong action film directed and produced by Johnnie To
 * Missions (TV series), a 2017 French science-fiction drama series
 * "The Mission", a 1985 episode of the television series Amazing Stories directed by Steven Spielberg

Music

 * The Mission (band), a British gothic rock band formed in 1986
 * The Mission (Captain Jack album), 1996
 * The Mission (Royal Hunt album), 2001
 * Mission (album), a 2016 album by Japanese singer/songwriter Mari Hamada
 * The Mission (Styx album), 2017
 * The Mission (soundtrack), the original score album of the 1986 film by Ennio Morricone
 * "The Mission" (theme music), composed by John Williams
 * "Mission" (song), a song from the 1987 album Hold Your Fire by Rush
 * "The Mission", a song from the 1988 album Operation: Mindcrime by Queensryche
 * "The Mission", a song from the 1995 album Revenge by Janis Ian
 * "The Mission", a song from the 2002 album 30 Seconds to Mars by 30 Seconds to Mars
 * "Mission", a song from the 2005 EP Van She by the Australian band Van She
 * "The Mission", a song on Puscifer's 2009 album "C" is for (Please Insert Sophomoric Genitalia Reference HERE)
 * "Mission", a song from the 2013 album Circle by Amorphis
 * "Mission", a song from the 2019 album ERYS by American rapper Jaden

Other arts and entertainment

 * The Mission (play), a 1980 German play (Der Auftrag) by Heiner Müller
 * The Mission, a novel by Hans Habe based on the events surrounding the Evian Conference in 1938
 * Mission, another term for quest, a task in a video game.

Religion

 * Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity
 * Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
 * The Mission (Vacaville, California), a nondenominational Christian church

Other uses

 * Organisational purpose, as in a mission statement
 * Diplomatic mission, a diplomatic outpost in a foreign territory
 * Mission Foods, an American maker of tortillas and salsa
 * Mission, a British hi-fi manufacturer owned by International Audio Group
 * Mission (grape), a variety of grape
 * Mission olive, a cultivar of olive developed in California
 * Mission, a magazine published by University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Mission


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Autonomic nervous system

The autonomic nervous system (ANS), sometimes called the visceral nervous system and formerly the vegetative nervous system, is a division of the nervous system that operates internal organs, smooth muscle and glands. The autonomic nervous system is a control system that acts largely unconsciously and regulates bodily functions, such as the heart rate, its force of contraction, digestion, respiratory rate, pupillary response, urination, and sexual arousal. This system is the primary mechanism in control of the fight-or-flight response.

The autonomic nervous system is regulated by integrated reflexes through the brainstem to the spinal cord and organs. Autonomic functions include control of respiration, cardiac regulation (the cardiac control center), vasomotor activity (the vasomotor center), and certain reflex actions such as coughing, sneezing, swallowing and vomiting. Those are then subdivided into other areas and are also linked to autonomic subsystems and the peripheral nervous system. The hypothalamus, just above the brain stem, acts as an integrator for autonomic functions, receiving autonomic regulatory input from the limbic system.

Although conflicting reports about its subdivisions exist in the literature, the autonomic nervous system has historically been considered a purely motor system, and has been divided into three branches: the sympathetic nervous system, the parasympathetic nervous system, and the enteric nervous system. Some textbooks do not include the enteric nervous system as part of this system. The sympathetic nervous system is often considered the "fight or flight" system, while the parasympathetic nervous system is often considered the "rest and digest" or "feed and breed" system. In many cases, both of these systems have "opposite" actions where one system activates a physiological response and the other inhibits it. An older simplification of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems as "excitatory" and "inhibitory" was overturned due to the many exceptions found. A more modern characterization is that the sympathetic nervous system is a "quick response mobilizing system" and the parasympathetic is a "more slowly activated dampening system", but even this has exceptions, such as in sexual arousal and orgasm, wherein both play a role.

There are inhibitory and excitatory synapses between neurons. A third subsystem of neurons has been named as non-noradrenergic, non-cholinergic transmitters (because they use nitric oxide as a neurotransmitter) and are integral in autonomic function, in particular in the gut and the lungs.

Although the ANS is also known as the visceral nervous system and although most of its fibers carry non-somatic information to the CNS, many authors still consider it only connected with the motor side. Most autonomous functions are involuntary but they can often work in conjunction with the somatic nervous system which provides voluntary control.

Structure
The autonomic nervous system has been classically divided into the sympathetic nervous system and parasympathetic nervous system only (i.e. exclusively motor). The sympathetic division emerges from the spinal cord in the thoracic and lumbar areas, terminating around L2-3. The parasympathetic division has craniosacral "outflow", meaning that the neurons begin at the cranial nerves (specifically the oculomotor nerve, facial nerve, glossopharyngeal nerve and vagus nerve) and sacral (S2-S4) spinal cord.

The autonomic nervous system is unique in that it requires a sequential two-neuron efferent pathway; the preganglionic neuron must first synapse onto a postganglionic neuron before innervating the target organ. The preganglionic, or first, neuron will begin at the "outflow" and will synapse at the postganglionic, or second, neuron's cell body. The postganglionic neuron will then synapse at the target organ.

Sympathetic division
The sympathetic nervous system consists of cells with bodies in the lateral grey column from T1 to L2/3. These cell bodies are "GVE" (general visceral efferent) neurons and are the preganglionic neurons. There are several locations upon which preganglionic neurons can synapse for their postganglionic neurons: These ganglia provide the postganglionic neurons from which innervation of target organs follows. Examples of splanchnic (visceral) nerves are: These all contain afferent (sensory) nerves as well, known as GVA (general visceral afferent) neurons.
 * paravertebral ganglia (3) of the sympathetic chain (these run on either side of the vertebral bodies)
 * 1) cervical ganglia (3)
 * 2) thoracic ganglia (12) and rostral lumbar ganglia (2 or 3)
 * 3) caudal lumbar ganglia and sacral ganglia
 * prevertebral ganglia (celiac ganglion, aorticorenal ganglion, superior mesenteric ganglion, inferior mesenteric ganglion)
 * chromaffin cells of the adrenal medulla (this is the one exception to the two-neuron pathway rule: the synapse is directly efferent onto the target cell bodies)
 * cervical cardiac nerves and thoracic visceral nerves, which synapse in the sympathetic chain
 * thoracic splanchnic nerves (greater, lesser, least), which synapse in the prevertebral ganglia
 * lumbar splanchnic nerves, which synapse in the prevertebral ganglia
 * sacral splanchnic nerves, which synapse in the inferior hypogastric plexus

Parasympathetic division
The parasympathetic nervous system consists of cells with bodies in one of two locations: the brainstem (cranial nerves III, VII, IX, X) or the sacral spinal cord (S2, S3, S4). These are the preganglionic neurons, which synapse with postganglionic neurons in these locations: these ganglia provide the postganglionic neurons from which innervations of target organs follows. Examples are:
 * parasympathetic ganglia of the head: ciliary (cranial nerve III), geniculate (cranial nerve VII),
 * pterygopalatine (cranial nerve VII and IX), and submandibular (cranial nerve VII and IX),
 * ottic in inner ear space (cranial nerve IX)
 * tympanic nerve of VII with C9, C10, C5 (cranial nerves VII, XI, X, V) in promontory plexus in middle ear space
 * trigeminal ganglion specially sensory (only mastication motor) is common with other ones
 * in or near the wall of an organ innervated by the vagus (cranial nerve X) or sacral nerves plexus (S2, S3, S4)
 * the postganglionic parasympathetic splanchnic (visceral) nerves
 * the vagus nerve, which passes through the thorax and abdominal regions innervating, among other organs, the heart, lungs, liver and stomach

Enteric Nervous System
Development of the Enteric Nervous System:

The intricate process of enteric nervous system (ENS) development begins with the migration of cells from the vagal section of the neural crest. These cells embark on a journey from the cranial region to populate the entire gastrointestinal tract. Concurrently, the sacral section of the neural crest provides an additional layer of complexity by contributing input to the hindgut ganglia. Throughout this developmental journey, numerous receptors exhibiting tyrosine kinase activity, such as Ret and Kit, play indispensable roles. Ret, for instance, plays a critical role in the formation of enteric ganglia derived from cells known as vagal neural crest. In mice, targeted disruption of the RET gene results in renal agenesis and the absence of enteric ganglia, while in humans, mutations in the RET gene are associated with megacolon. Similarly, Kit, another receptor with tyrosine kinase activity, is implicated in Cajal interstitial cell formation, influencing the spontaneous, rhythmic, electrical excitatory activity known as slow waves in the gastrointestinal tract. Understanding the molecular intricacies of these receptors provides crucial insights into the delicate orchestration of ENS development.

Structure of the Enteric Nervous System:

The structural complexity of the enteric nervous system (ENS) is a fascinating aspect of its functional significance. Originally perceived as postganglionic parasympathetic neurons, the ENS earned recognition for its autonomy in the early 1900s. Boasting approximately 100 million neurons, a quantity comparable to the spinal cord, the ENS is often described as a "brain of its own." This description is rooted in the ENS's ability to communicate independently with the central nervous system through parasympathetic and sympathetic neurons. At the core of this intricate structure are the myenteric plexus (Auerbach's) and the submucous plexus (Meissner's), two main plexuses formed by the grouping of nerve-cell bodies into tiny ganglia connected by bundles of nerve processes. The myenteric plexus extends the full length of the gut, situated between the circular and longitudinal muscle layers. Beyond its primary motor and secretomotor functions, the myenteric plexus exhibits projections to submucosal ganglia and enteric ganglia in the pancreas and gallbladder, showcasing the interconnectivity within the ENS. Additionally, the myenteric plexus plays a unique role in innervating motor end plates with the inhibitory neurotransmitter nitric oxide in the striated-muscle segment of the esophagus, a feature exclusive to this organ. Meanwhile, the submucous plexus, most developed in the small intestine, occupies a crucial position in secretory regulation. Positioned in the submucosa between the circular muscle layer and the muscularis mucosa, the submucous plexus's neurons innervate intestinal endocrine cells, submucosal blood arteries, and the muscularis mucosa, emphasizing its multifaceted role in gastrointestinal function. Furthermore, ganglionated plexuses in the pancreatic, cystic duct, common bile duct, and gallbladder, resembling submucous plexuses, contribute to the overall complexity of the ENS structure. In this intricate landscape, glial cells emerge as key players, outnumbering enteric neurons and covering the majority of the surface of enteric neuronal-cell bodies with laminar extensions. Resembling the astrocytes of the central nervous system, enteric glial cells respond to cytokines by expressing MHC class II antigens and generating interleukins. This underlines their pivotal role in modulating inflammatory responses in the intestine, adding another layer of sophistication to the functional dynamics of the ENS. The varied morphological shapes of enteric neurons further contribute to the structural diversity of the ENS, with neurons capable of exhibiting up to eight different morphologies. These neurons are primarily categorized into type I and type II, where type II neurons are multipolar with numerous long, smooth processes, and type I neurons feature numerous club-shaped processes along with a single long, slender process. The rich structural diversity of enteric neurons highlights the complexity and adaptability of the ENS in orchestrating a wide array of gastrointestinal functions, reflecting its status as a dynamic and sophisticated component of the nervous system.

Sensory neurons
The visceral sensory system - technically not a part of the autonomic nervous system - is composed of primary neurons located in cranial sensory ganglia: the geniculate, petrosal and nodose ganglia, appended respectively to cranial nerves VII, IX and X. These sensory neurons monitor the levels of carbon dioxide, oxygen and sugar in the blood, arterial pressure and the chemical composition of the stomach and gut content. They also convey the sense of taste and smell, which, unlike most functions of the ANS, is a conscious perception. Blood oxygen and carbon dioxide are in fact directly sensed by the carotid body, a small collection of chemosensors at the bifurcation of the carotid artery, innervated by the petrosal (IXth) ganglion. Primary sensory neurons project (synapse) onto "second order" visceral sensory neurons located in the medulla oblongata, forming the nucleus of the solitary tract (nTS), that integrates all visceral information. The nTS also receives input from a nearby chemosensory center, the area postrema, that detects toxins in the blood and the cerebrospinal fluid and is essential for chemically induced vomiting or conditional taste aversion (the memory that ensures that an animal that has been poisoned by a food never touches it again). All this visceral sensory information constantly and unconsciously modulates the activity of the motor neurons of the ANS.

Innervation
Autonomic nerves travel to organs throughout the body. Most organs receive parasympathetic supply by the vagus nerve and sympathetic supply by splanchnic nerves. The sensory part of the latter reaches the spinal column at certain spinal segments. Pain in any internal organ is perceived as referred pain, more specifically as pain from the dermatome corresponding to the spinal segment.

Motor neurons
Motor neurons of the autonomic nervous system are found in "autonomic ganglia". Those of the parasympathetic branch are located close to the target organ whilst the ganglia of the sympathetic branch are located close to the spinal cord.

The sympathetic ganglia here, are found in two chains: the pre-vertebral and pre-aortic chains. The activity of autonomic ganglionic neurons is modulated by "preganglionic neurons" located in the central nervous system. Preganglionic sympathetic neurons are located in the spinal cord, at the thorax and upper lumbar levels. Preganglionic parasympathetic neurons are found in the medulla oblongata where they form visceral motor nuclei; the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus nerve; the nucleus ambiguus, the salivatory nuclei, and in the sacral region of the spinal cord.

Function

Sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions typically function in opposition to each other. But this opposition is better termed complementary in nature rather than antagonistic. For an analogy, one may think of the sympathetic division as the accelerator and the parasympathetic division as the brake. The sympathetic division typically functions in actions requiring quick responses. The parasympathetic division functions with actions that do not require immediate reaction. The sympathetic system is often considered the "fight or flight" system, while the parasympathetic system is often considered the "rest and digest" or "feed and breed" system.

However, many instances of sympathetic and parasympathetic activity cannot be ascribed to "fight" or "rest" situations. For example, standing up from a reclining or sitting position would entail an unsustainable drop in blood pressure if not for a compensatory increase in the arterial sympathetic tonus. Another example is the constant, second-to-second, modulation of heart rate by sympathetic and parasympathetic influences, as a function of the respiratory cycles. In general, these two systems should be seen as permanently modulating vital functions, in a usually antagonistic fashion, to achieve homeostasis. Higher organisms maintain their integrity via homeostasis which relies on negative feedback regulation which, in turn, typically depends on the autonomic nervous system. Some typical actions of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems are listed below.

Sympathetic nervous system
Promotes a fight-or-flight response, corresponds with arousal and energy generation, and inhibits digestion The pattern of innervation of the sweat gland—namely, the postganglionic sympathetic nerve fibers—allows clinicians and researchers to use sudomotor function testing to assess dysfunction of the autonomic nervous systems, through electrochemical skin conductance.
 * Diverts blood flow away from the gastro-intestinal (GI) tract and skin via vasoconstriction
 * Blood flow to skeletal muscles and the lungs is enhanced (by as much as 1200% in the case of skeletal muscles)
 * Dilates bronchioles of the lung through circulating epinephrine, which allows for greater alveolar oxygen exchange
 * Increases heart rate and the contractility of cardiac cells (myocytes), thereby providing a mechanism for enhanced blood flow to skeletal muscles
 * Dilates pupils and relaxes the ciliary muscle to the lens, allowing more light to enter the eye and enhances far vision
 * Provides vasodilation for the coronary vessels of the heart
 * Constricts all the intestinal sphincters and the urinary sphincter
 * Inhibits peristalsis
 * Stimulates orgasm

Parasympathetic nervous system
The parasympathetic nervous system has been said to promote a "rest and digest" response, promotes calming of the nerves return to regular function, and enhancing digestion. Functions of nerves within the parasympathetic nervous system include:
 * Dilating blood vessels leading to the GI tract, increasing the blood flow.
 * Constricting the bronchiolar diameter when the need for oxygen has diminished
 * Dedicated cardiac branches of the vagus and thoracic spinal accessory nerves impart parasympathetic control of the heart (myocardium)
 * Constriction of the pupil and contraction of the ciliary muscles, facilitating accommodation and allowing for closer vision
 * Stimulating salivary gland secretion, and accelerates peristalsis, mediating digestion of food and, indirectly, the absorption of nutrients
 * Sexual. Nerves of the peripheral nervous system are involved in the erection of genital tissues via the pelvic splanchnic nerves 2–4. They are also responsible for stimulating sexual arousal.

Enteric nervous system
The enteric nervous system is the intrinsic nervous system of the gastrointestinal system. It has been described as "the Second Brain of the Human Body". Its functions include:
 * Sensing chemical and mechanical changes in the gut
 * Regulating secretions in the gut
 * Controlling peristalsis and some other movements

Neurotransmitters

At the effector organs, sympathetic ganglionic neurons release noradrenaline (norepinephrine), along with other cotransmitters such as ATP, to act on adrenergic receptors, with the exception of the sweat glands and the adrenal medulla:
 * Acetylcholine is the preganglionic neurotransmitter for both divisions of the ANS, as well as the postganglionic neurotransmitter of parasympathetic neurons. Nerves that release acetylcholine are said to be cholinergic. In the parasympathetic system, ganglionic neurons use acetylcholine as a neurotransmitter to stimulate muscarinic receptors.
 * At the adrenal medulla, there is no postsynaptic neuron. Instead, the presynaptic neuron releases acetylcholine to act on nicotinic receptors. Stimulation of the adrenal medulla releases adrenaline (epinephrine) into the bloodstream, which acts on adrenoceptors, thereby indirectly mediating or mimicking sympathetic activity.

A full table is found at Table of neurotransmitter actions in the ANS.

Autonomic nervous system and the immune system
Recent studies indicate that ANS activation is critical for regulating the local and systemic immune-inflammatory responses and may influence acute stroke outcomes. Therapeutic approaches modulating the activation of the ANS or the immune-inflammatory response could promote neurologic recovery after stroke.

History
The specialised system of the autonomic nervous system was recognised by Galen.

In 1665, Thomas Willis used the terminology, and in 1900, John Newport Langley used the term, defining the two divisions as the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.

Caffeine effects
Caffeine is a bioactive ingredient found in commonly consumed beverages such as coffee, tea, and sodas. Short-term physiological effects of caffeine include increased blood pressure and sympathetic nerve outflow. Habitual consumption of caffeine may inhibit physiological short-term effects. Consumption of caffeinated espresso increases parasympathetic activity in habitual caffeine consumers; however, decaffeinated espresso inhibits parasympathetic activity in habitual caffeine consumers. It is possible that other bioactive ingredients in decaffeinated espresso may also contribute to the inhibition of parasympathetic activity in habitual caffeine consumers.

Caffeine is capable of increasing work capacity while individuals perform strenuous tasks. In one study, caffeine provoked a greater maximum heart rate while a strenuous task was being performed compared to a placebo. This tendency is likely due to caffeine's ability to increase sympathetic nerve outflow. Furthermore, this study found that recovery after intense exercise was slower when caffeine was consumed prior to exercise. This finding is indicative of caffeine's tendency to inhibit parasympathetic activity in non-habitual consumers. The caffeine-stimulated increase in nerve activity is likely to evoke other physiological effects as the body attempts to maintain homeostasis.

The effects of caffeine on parasympathetic activity may vary depending on the position of the individual when autonomic responses are measured. One study found that the seated position inhibited autonomic activity after caffeine consumption (75 mg); however, parasympathetic activity increased in the supine position. This finding may explain why some habitual caffeine consumers (75 mg or less) do not experience short-term effects of caffeine if their routine requires many hours in a seated position. It is important to note that the data supporting increased parasympathetic activity in the supine position was derived from an experiment involving participants between the ages of 25 and 30 who were considered healthy and sedentary. Caffeine may influence autonomic activity differently for individuals who are more active or elderly.

title: Autonomic nervous system


text:
The Soul Stirrers

The Soul Stirrers were an American gospel music group, whose career spans over eighty years. The group was a pioneer in the development of the quartet style of gospel, and a major influence on Soul, Doo wop, and the Motown sound, some of the secular music that owed much to gospel.

Formation
The group was formed by (Silas) Roy Crain, launching his first quartet who sang in a jubilee style, in 1926 in Trinity, Texas, United States. In the early 1930s, after Crain moved to Houston, he joined an existing group on the condition that it change its name to The Soul Stirrers: this name yields from the description of one of Roy Crain's earlier quartets as "soul-stirring". Among the members of that group there was R.H. (Rebert) Harris, who soon became its musical leader. The Soul Stirrers, formed as a jubilee quartet, transformed their sound, influenced by hard gospel singers such as Mahalia Jackson and Sister Rosetta Tharpe.

Style
Rebert Harris, also from Trinity, Texas, brought several changes to The Soul Stirrers that affected gospel quartet singing generally. He used a falsetto style that had its antecedents in African music, but which was new to the popular jubilee singing style of the time. He pioneered the "swing lead", in which two singers would share the job of leading the song, allowing virtuoso singers to increase the emotional intensity of the song as the lead passed between them without disturbing the four part harmony. That innovation led The Soul Stirrers, while still called a quartet, to acquire five members.

The Soul Stirrers made other important changes in those years: ad-libbing lyrics, singing in delayed time, and repeating words in the background as both a rhythmic and emotional support for the lead singers. The Soul Stirrers along with other quartet performers, dropped the "flatfooted" style of jubilee quartets before them and expanded their repertoire from spirituals and traditional hymns to the newer gospel compositions. The group also loosened the rigid arrangements that jubilee quartets had favored to permit individual singers within the group more space for individual development.

Recordings and performances
In 1936, Alan Lomax recorded The Soul Stirrers for the Library of Congress's American music project, and those four unissued recordings are in the American Folklife Center collection today. They later moved to Chicago, where they broadcast a weekly radio show (WIND) with other famous groups including The Golden Gate Quartet and The Famous Blue Jay Singers. As the gospel quartet style of singing became more popular, groups would perform in competitions called "song battles" to further increase the genre's popularity.

As World War II began, it became more difficult for many gospel quartet groups to make a living. It resulted in some quartets supplementing their income by doing live performances at churches, schools, and neighborhood centers. Despite the economic situation, throughout the 1940s and leading into the 1950s, many gospel quartet groups were able to pursue their careers successfully. The Soul Stirrers' nationwide touring gained them an even larger audience.

The Soul Stirrers signed with Specialty Records, where they recorded a number of tracks, including "By and By" and "In That Awful Hour". Harris quit in late 1950 to form a new group, citing dissatisfaction with what he viewed as the crookedness of the business and immoral behavior by musicians he saw on the "Gospel Highway" touring circuit. He was briefly replaced on lead by Paul Foster, then by Sam Cooke. Cooke joined the group at 19 and served as lead vocalist from 1950 to 1956.

One of the early singles with Cooke was "Jesus Gave Me Water", a major hit that brought The Soul Stirrers acclaim. Thomas L. Breuster was replaced by Bob King and, briefly, Julius Cheeks. When Cooke left in 1957 to pursue a solo career in pop music, The Soul Stirrers' preeminence in gospel was essentially over, though a brief period of success with Johnnie Taylor sustained the group for a time. The group made several appearances performing on TV Gospel Time in early 1960s. Various line-ups continued touring and recording throughout the last half of the century to a small and devoted following.

Awards
The group — and all of its members — was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989 as one of rock's 'Early Influences', and into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2000. In 2022 their 1950 recording "Jesus Gave Me Water" was selected by the US Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry.

title: The Soul Stirrers


text:
Lauch Faircloth

Duncan McLauchlin Faircloth (January 14, 1928 – September 14, 2023), better known as Lauch Faircloth, was an American politician who served as a United States Senator from North Carolina from 1993 to 1999. He was a Democrat for most of his career in North Carolina politics until he joined the Republican Party in 1991.

Faircloth began his career as a political consultant to Senator Kerr Scott and Governor Terry Sanford. He was appointed to the state highway commission during Sanford's tenure and served as its chairman from 1969 to 1973. He then served as North Carolina Secretary of Commerce before unsuccessfully running for governor in 1984. In 1991, Faircloth switched parties and became a Republican. He won the Republican nomination for the 1992 U.S. Senate election and defeated incumbent Senator Terry Sanford, his former boss, in the general election.

As a Senator, Faircloth staunchly criticized President Bill Clinton and was a prominent figure in the Senate Whitewater investigations. He was also critical of first lady Hillary Clinton and called on her to testify in front of Congress. In 1997, Faircloth came to national attention after he stripped Washington, D.C. mayor Marion Barry of his powers to deal with a large deficit. His decision angered Barry and led to D.C. residents marching to North Carolina to protest. Although his political standing was damaged, Faircloth attempted to seek a second term in 1998, losing to Democrat John Edwards in the general election.

Early life
Born on January 14, 1928, in Sampson County, North Carolina, Faircloth was the youngest of four sons born to James and Mary Faircloth; James owned a 2,500-acre cotton farm, which Lauch inherited after James' death. He attended Roseboro High School and graduated in 1945. He attended High Point University but dropped out in his freshman year after his father suffered a stroke.

In 1950, Faircloth purchased 1,000 acres of land in Sampson County, which he turned into a prominent cattle and hog farm. He also engaged in business ventures such as construction and auto dealerships. One impetus for his political activism was his disagreement with the increasing regulations targeting large hog farming operations such as his, fueled by an environmentalist and populist backlash.

Early political career
Faircloth began his career as a Democrat. He worked on Kerr Scott's successful 1948 gubernatorial campaign and his 1954 U.S. Senate campaign. Scott rewarded Faircloth by helping him get out of service in the Korean War via a hardship discharge in 1955. In 1960, Faircloth worked on Terry Sanford's successful gubernatorial bid, and afterwards Sanford rewarded Faircloth with an appointment to the state highway commission, on which he served from 1961 to 1965. After helping Robert W. Scott in his bid for the governorship in 1968, Scott named Faircloth chairman of the commission, replacing Joe Hunt Jr., which he served as from 1969 to 1973.

When Jim Hunt was elected governor in 1976, he selected Faircloth serve as Secretary of Commerce. As Commerce Secretary, he was paid $32,580 a year. Manufacturing jobs in North Carolina grew 8.4 percent under Faircloth, the third highest in the southeast. The weekly wage increased from $170 when he took office to $297 when he left, which was virtually unchanged from national wages.

1984 gubernatorial campaign
Faircloth, aspiring to the governor's office himself, resigned as Commerce Secretary in June 1983. On July 25, he announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for the 1984 gubernatorial election. While flying to a campaign stop on August 22, 1983, the small twin-engine plane he was aboard crashed into the Catawba River. According to one passenger, Faircloth forced the plane's door open and helped all the occupants escape moments before the plane exploded. After the crash, Faircloth was transferred to Marion General Hospital for minor burns to his right hand.

In December 1983, Faircloth was endorsed by Terry Sanford, a former governor and the then-president of Duke University who had appointed Faircloth to the state highway commission 20 years prior. Sanford said that Faircloth was "an old and trusted friend" and "the best qualified candidate we have in North Carolina". Faircloth was defeated in the 1984 primary by Rufus Edmisten, who lost the general election to congressman James G. Martin. Official Board of Elections reports showed that Faircloth spent $2,100,605.70 on his campaign.

Later activates
Faircloth was considered a potential candidate for the Senate seat being vacated by Senator John East in 1986. He initially declined, but in November 1985 he said he was reconsidering his decision and launched a campaign committee. But in January 1986, he announced he would not run after Sanford entered the race; Sanford would go on to win the election. Afterward, Faircloth grew close with Republican Senator Jesse Helms and supported Helms' 1990 reelection campaign. On February 14, 1991, Faircloth switched his party registration to Republican, saying that Democrats had become "too liberal" and hinted at a potential run for the U.S. Senate in 1992, vying to face former ally Terry Sanford in the election.

United States Senate
In April 1991, Faircloth announced he would run for the Republican Party nomination for the 1992 U.S. Senate election. He enjoyed the support of Senator Helms's political organization, the National Congressional Club, and defeated Charlotte mayor Sue Myrick and former congressman Walter E. Johnston III in the primary. Sanford, the incumbent Senator, had helped Faircloth raise money for his failed gubernatorial bid in 1984, but provoked Faircloth's anger two years later when Sanford allegedly denigrated Faircloth's earlier bid for the Senate with alleged comments dismissing Faircloth's chances in a statewide contest against him.

A year prior to the election, Sanford voted against authorizing military force in the Persian Gulf War, which damaged his political standing. Faircloth attacked Sanford as a tax-and-spend liberal, and despite a mediocre performance in a televised debate that September, Faircloth won the seat by a 100,000-vote margin.

103rd Congress
Faircloth was sworn in as North Carolina's junior U.S. Senator on January 5, 1993. He joked that he wanted to be known as the conservative senator from North Carolina; in comparison to the state's other seat held by the arch-conservative Helms.

In his first two weeks in the Senate, Faircloth was appointed to serve on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, the Senate Banking Committee, and the Senate Armed Service Committee. While on the Armed Service Committee, he opposed the inclusion of gay men in the military and claimed the number of AIDS-infected people in the military would only increase if it were to happen. He opposed the Clinton administration's "don't ask, don't tell" policy and said it was a result of President Bill Clinton's lack of military experience. That remark was condemned by Colin Powell, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who said that, "it is unfair to single out the president in this regard".

On the Environment and Public Works Committee, Faircloth sought to weaken anti-pollution measures regulating farms. He introduced a measure that would have lowered fines issued to farms that have polluted wetlands and proposed another measure that would have stopped the flow of federal money to environmental monitors. The committee did not vote on either measure. In 1994, the committee adopted a third measure by Faircloth – legislation that would have made it more difficult for farmers suspected of polluting to be taken to court – but it did not become law. Some claimed there was a conflict of interest in Faircloth's policy proposals, given that he was a farmer, but he claimed he was working to benefit all farmers and not just himself.

In January 1994, Faircloth was among eight Republican senators to call for a congressional inquiry into the role President Bill Clinton had in the Whitewater controversy. In February, he was the lone Senator on the Senate Banking Committee to vote against approving Ricki Tigert as head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. He argued that Tigert, who was appointed by Clinton, was not going to help uncover information in the investigation. Later that year, The Wall Street Journal praised Faircloth's aggressive efforts to uncover information. In June 1994, he proposed amending the House and Community Development Act to include a work-for-rent requirement, but it was voted down by Senate Democrats. Senator Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois argued that his plan was "dictatorial", and branded Faircloth as a communist.

Faircloth was often criticized for accepting thousands of dollars from several PACs, despite having criticized them during his 1992 Senate campaign.

104th Congress
When the 104th Congress convened in January 1995, Faircloth was named chairman of the Subcommittee on Clean Air, Climate and Nuclear Safety and the Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development. In May, Faircloth and Virginia Senator John Warner proposed implementing Interstate 73's entry into South Carolina, but the proposal angered South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond, who effectively killed the deal after calling for a session in the Public Works Committee. In September 1995, Faircloth was the lone Republican Senator to join eleven Senate Democratics to vote against a landmark welfare bill, calling it a "pot of Pablum". In January 1996, Faircloth earned the Taxpayers' Friend Award from the bipartisan National Taxpayers Union.

In April 1995, Faircloth accused the Clinton administration of pushing out Republican Sheila Bair as chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to protect first lady Hillary Clinton's trading profits. In response, the White House denounced his accusation as "a baseless and irresponsible charge". When the Senate Whitewater Committee was established in May 1995, Faircloth sought to subpoena first lady Hillary Clinton. In a letter to the CFTC, Faircloth asked for records involving Clinton from 1978 to 1980. He called on Clinton to testify in front of Congress. In 1996, Faircloth delayed the nomination of Brooksley Born to chair the CFTC, demanding that he receive written assurances that would recuse Born from any investigations involving Hillary Clinton and Whitewater.

In 1996, Faircloth delayed the nomination of Susan Oki Mollway to the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii, arguing that she had "very, very liberal ideas" and raised questions over her affiliation with the American Civil Liberties Union. The delay led to Mollway having to wait over two years to be confirmed in the post. Hawaii's senior Senator Daniel Inouye was critical of the delay.

105th Congress
In September 1997, Faircloth voted to eliminate funding for the National Endowment for the Arts, although it failed with 77 Senators voting against the proposal.

In 1997, Faircloth, then-chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee on the District of Columbia, stripped Washington, D.C. mayor Marion Barry of his authority to deal with a large deficit, handing it to a newly established financial control board, and placing several city agencies into a receivership. The move angered Barry, who called it a "rape of democracy". In response, a crowd of around 600 protesters, 400 of whom marched from D.C., surrounded Faircloth's home in protest at his decision, although he was not home.

In April 1998, Henry Woods, a federal judge from Arkansas, alleged to The Charlotte Observer that in 1995 an aide to Faircloth came to him and asked for Woods' financial disclosures. The request was granted two weeks before Woods was to rule on whether or not Ken Starr had jurisdiction to prosecute key Whitewater figures. Woods said that he considered the request to be "a crude attempt to intimidate me", and called on the Justice Department to investigate.

Official Senate records showed that between January 1993 and June 1998, Faircloth missed 68 out of 2,122 roll-call votes.

1998 reelection campaign
Faircloth ran for reelection in 1998. He defeated Leonard Plyler and Steve Franks in the Republican primary and faced political newcomer, Democrat John Edwards, in the general election. In an August 1998 poll by Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy, Faircloth's approval rating among voters was 50 percent, with 44 percent disapproving. Despite originally being the marginal favorite, Faircloth was beaten by Edwards by a margin of some 83,000 votes. In conceding to Edwards, Faircloth admitted to his supporters, "I feel that I let you down...because we should have won." Afterwards, Barry said Faircloth had been "so busy picking on me and the residents of the District of Columbia that he neglected his constituents in North Carolina. Now he can go back and deal with the pigs. Goodbye, Faircloth."

Post-Senate career
After leaving the Senate, Faircloth moved back to his home in Clinton, North Carolina. When Jesse Helms announced he would retire from the Senate after the 2002 election, Faircloth considered entering the race to replace him. He announced in September 2001 that he would not run.

Personal life and death
Faircloth married and divorced Lady Lynn Talton, before marrying Nancy Bryan Faircloth in 1967, with whom he had one daughter. He divorced Bryan in 1986.

Faircloth died at his home from natural causes on September 14, 2023, at age 95.

Electoral history

 * Write-in and minor candidate notes: in 1992, Bruce Kimball received 23 votes and Mary Ann Zakutney received 13 votes.

title: Lauch Faircloth


text:
Talk:Allison V-1710 engine

One of the images is really to bad !

title: Talk:Allison V-1710 engine


text:
Petrol engine

A petrol engine (gasoline engine in American and Canadian English) is an internal combustion engine designed to run on petrol (gasoline). Petrol engines can often be adapted to also run on fuels such as liquefied petroleum gas and ethanol blends (such as E10 and E85).

Most petrol engines use spark ignition, unlike diesel engines which typically use compression ignition. Another key difference to diesel engines is that petrol engines typically have a lower compression ratio.

History
The first practical petrol engine was built in 1876 in Germany by Nicolaus August Otto and Eugen Langen, although there had been earlier attempts by Étienne Lenoir in 1860, Siegfried Marcus in 1864 and George Brayton in 1873.

Thermodynamic cycle

Most petrol engines use either the four-stroke Otto cycle or the two-stroke cycle. Petrol engines have also been produced using the Miller cycle and Atkinson cycle.

Layout
Most petrol-powered piston engines are straight engines or V engines. However, flat engines, W engines and other layouts are sometimes used.

Wankel engines are classified by the number of rotors used.

Cooling
Petrol engines are either air-cooled or water-cooled.

Ignition
Petrol engines use spark ignition. High voltage for the spark this may be provided by a magneto or an ignition coil. In modern car engines, the ignition timing is managed by an electronic Engine Control Unit. Ignition modules can also function as a rev limiter in some cases to prevent overrevving and the consequences of it, such as valve float and connecting rod failure.

Primer
Primers may be used to help start the engine. They can draw fuel from fuel tanks and vaporize fuel directly into piston cylinders. Engines are difficult to start during cold weather, and the fuel primer helps because otherwise there will not be enough heat available to vaporize the fuel in the carburetor.

Power output and efficiency
The power output of small- and medium-sized petrol engines (along with equivalent engines using other fuels) is usually measured in kilowatts or horsepower.

Typically, petrol engines have a thermodynamic efficiency of about 20-30% (approximately half that of some diesel engines).

Applications
Applications of petrol engines include automobiles, motorcycles, aircraft, motorboats and small engines (such as lawn mowers, chainsaws and portable generators). Petrol engines have also been used as "pony engines", a type of engine used to start a larger, stationary diesel engine.

title: Petrol engine


text:
Talk:Autonomic nervous system

Wiki Education Foundation - Supported Course Assignment.
Hello fellow Wikipediaes, I am Mustafa Bishara, I'm a molecular biology master degree student, and editing this article (Autonomic nervous system) was given to me as an assignment for Recent Developments in Biotechnology (MLC501/1) I participate as a student editor. I already completed Wikipedia training modules to be proficient in Wikipedia editing. I would appreciate any support. Best wishes. Moos beshara (talk) 09:43, 4 January 2024 (UTC)

Untitled
There is an inconsistence: While it is clear that sympathicus and parasympathicus have a part in the CNS, acknowledged also in this article, the ANS is said to be part of the peripheral nervous system in the first sentence. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.92.9.58 (talk) 10:40, 25 March 2014 (UTC)

Yes, indeed, concerning the comment from 10:40, 25 March 2014. The figure accompanying the article shows clearly that the autonomic nervous system is part of CNS and PNS. While CNS and PNS is an anatomical classification, ANS is a functional classification. But as I see, this error has not been corrected for 6 years now. The following citation also makes ist clear, that the ANS is not confined to the PNS.

"The composition of the efferent pathway is the same for both the sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions. It consists of two types of neurons:The first type is located in the brain stem[emphasis by me] or spinal cord and is referred to as preganglionic neurons. The second type is located in the ganglia, or in the body itself, and is referred to as postganglionic neurons." Svorc, Pavol 2018. Autonomic Nervous System, electronic resource, part 2 composition --Pololeiloa (talk) 21:01, 12 June 2020 (UTC) "Should the article with the other parts of the nervous system as a whole? The nervous system consists of the autonomic, the ... etc. I'm sorry I don't know what they are or I would have added it myself. The nervous system as a whole is described in different terms (with no mention of the autonomic) in the wiki for that" 82.43.195.70 (talk) 20:43, 30 May 2010 (UTC)

added a link to the enteric nervous system 17:24, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

"I agree with other people - this page needs to be taken down and completely rewritten. There are dozens of factual errors throughout this discussion - too many to be listed."

oh dear. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 205.172.134.23 (talk) 14:38, 14 October 2009 (UTC)

"A third and less commonly considered part of the autonomic nervous system is the enteric nervous system, which controls the digestive organs, and is, for the most part, independent of CNS input." - the CNwhat? --GrimRC 86.4.53.107 17:11, 29 May 2006 (UTC)

The enteric nervous system is really a third division that's vagally mediated. It should have its own article Phdotcom 18:48, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

This page is totally useless. Can we remove the jargon? What the fuck is the splanchnic nerve? Also, is this an original article? Can someone translate this mess? If not, we should just delete it - it'd be easier to do it from scratch. Graft In reality, the article is a concise summary of the ANS. "Graft" is simply over his (presumed) head.

I agree, this is a concise summary for such a complex discussion. Rivera151 (talk) 23:50, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

With regard to the information contained on this page, I found it very helpful in some research I was doing on particular parts of the nervous system in the lower part of the body. I had not been impressed with Gray's Anatomy in the past, but the way the pictures were presented (in color), along with some of the information here was helpful. Do you think the enteric nervous system should contain a link where it can be talked about more in depth?

(Edit made 2004, contributor Eddie Zattara 22:28, 25 November 2005 (UTC))

A lot of work to be done here...

all of the anatomy and physiology-related articles need to be read and edited to reduce anthrocentrism. These systems are shared with the most ancient organisms and knowledge of their phylogenesis can contribute to the understanding of their function. SoCal 04:14, 16 Feb 2004 (UTC)

I agree, there's much work examining the origins and evolution of structure of ANS. This page is entirely focused on a small section of the vertebrates. Jmwallach (talk) 20:56, 22 September 2014 (UTC)

Hello. I added a link to an article by Dr. Gershon, Professor and Chair, Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York. I felt it had useful information that helped strengthen the reference to the enteric nervous system made by the original author. Any thoughts?

(I made this edit in 2004, but didn't have an account then. Now I do.  Eddie Zattara 22:25, 25 November 2005 (UTC))

The article needs an introduction.

 * Thank you for your suggestion regarding &]]! When you feel an article needs improvement, please feel free to make whatever changes you feel are needed. Wikipedia is a wiki, so anyone can edit almost any article by simply following the  link at the top. You don't even need to log in! (Although there are some reasons why you might like to…) The Wikipedia community encourages you to be bold. Don't worry too much about making honest mistakes—they're likely to be found and corrected quickly. If you're not sure how editing works, check out how to edit a page, or use the sandbox to try out your editing skills.  New contributors are always welcome. JFW |  T@lk  01:25, 30 May 2005 (UTC)

Old discussion closed for archiving. --Tom (LT) (talk) 00:11, 18 July 2020 (UTC)

Arguments, too teological?
It should be considered that the body, especially the ANS (consisting of Sym and PARA components) does not wish anything. It merely responds to the information it recieves. I believe that, although the content of the article contains the basics, it is riddled with teological sentiment. The article may be improved by removing repetition, clarification of tract origins and innervation patterns.

I'll can go along and try to clear up confusing remarks and attempt to clarify the logic in some places. The bulk of the article is anatomically orientated, I'm no anatomist, i'll concentrate more on the physiology.

Old discussion closed for archiving. --Tom (LT) (talk) 00:11, 18 July 2020 (UTC)

New Intro and anatomy.
Encouraged by the discussion and agreeing with most people here that the article was not very useful in its present state, I ventured to rewrite entirely the Introduction and Anatomy. Apologies for this massive intervention. October 22-23rd 2006

November 4th 2006: I changed slightly the structure of the "Function" section (which would really need to be entirely rewritten) and the Overview of Actions that I renamed "Neurotransmitters and Pharmacology". NB: my modifications of this page are attributed mainly to "84.37.64.199, "JayFBee", but also today (I guess I forgot to "sign in"?) "84.37.39.194", and a few more. Being new, I welcome a brief explanation on how not to constantly change identity...(I work on several computers).

Old discussion closed for archiving. --Tom (LT) (talk) 00:11, 18 July 2020 (UTC)

title: Talk:Autonomic nervous system


text:
Talk:Gasoline engine

This article seems confuse.

Yeah, then what do you say? My knowledge about gasoline engine is not adequaate to rewrite. -- Taku 23:48 Jan 6, 2003 (UTC)

They are articles about four stroke cycle internal combustion engine Reciprocating engine and maybe other related to the same topic. IMHO half of the article is dealing ignition and the other half with caburetor wich is rather obsolete and a substaantial part of the part related to carburetor is related to other combustibles than Gasoline/Petrol. I think only the beginning is relevant. The first part could be a start for an article aabout ignition system and the second for an article about carburetor. User:Ericd

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This has a conspiracy theory smell to it and even if it is true it should belong in carburetor.

There are persistent rumours of extremely efficient carburetors. These seem to be true. The basic mechanism is apparently a catalytic carburetor. It would mix fuel fumes with water and air in the presence of heated catalysts such as nickel or platinum. The fuel would break down into methane, alcohols, and other lighter-weight fuels. The lighter-molecular-weight fuels would burn about 1.8 to 3 times as efficiently as vaporized gasoline, with lower emissions and waste. The original catalytic carburetor was introduced to permit farmers to run tractors from kerosene.

The U.S. army used catalytic carburetors in World War II in the North African desert, to achieve substantial logistic surprise against the Germans.

However, it is known that less than two years after commercial introduction of the first catalytic carburetor, in 1932, tetraethyl lead was introduced, to "condition" gasoline's "ethyl content." Also in that time, the price differential between a thermal calorie of gasoline and kerosene was ended. Tetraethyl lead had the effect of poisoning catalytic carburetors. Many modern gasolines appear to have additives for "cleaning" which perform the same effect by producing varnishes or gums in the presence of water, which of course, is not a recommended use.

Gasoline/petrol is an impure mixture of linear heptane and octane and other miscellaneous light alkanes. Commercial gasolines usually contain additives to clean engines, artificially lower evaporation points, and (conjecturally) poison catalytic carburetors (an effect that is certainly real, but might be accidental).
 * I don't if this is conspiracy theory a lot of tanks and maybe other military vehicle can use a wide range of fuels (from gazoline to olive oil for instance), but this is out of the subject.
 * And "In the North African desert" please let me laught : Patton complained that the US used gazoline in their tank and thus where higly explosive in the desert while the Afrika Korps had Diesel engine causing much less casualities.
 * User:Ericd

This story seems related to the famous urban legend about a certain Army Mechanic who took one of those ultra efficient carbururators home and installed it in his own vehicle. Soon, he went around bragging to his neighbors about the great mileage he was getting, and the Army got wind of his little theft and took back the carburator and let the mechanic spend some quality time in the stockade.

Redirect
This article needs to redirect to internal combustion engine. While I recognize that diesel and other engines are IC engines that are not also gasoline engines, there's nothing here that is different or valuable. --User:Tysto
 * Agreed, I was rather surprised that this was a separate article. I put the  on the article, in case anyone wants to discuss it more first.  --Interiot 15:39, 16 October 2005 (UTC)

title: Talk:Gasoline engine