The autonomic nervous system is divided into the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system.

The sympathetic nervous system comprehends the nerves that come out from the ganglia of the neural chains lateral to the spinal column (near the spinal cord) and thus are distant from the tissues they innervate. The central and peripheral neurons associated to those neurons are also part of the sympathetic.

The parasympathetic nervous system is made of nerves and central or peripheral neurons related to the visceral ganglia, neural ganglia situated near the tissues they innervate.   _{Your Comment}