Results of hemisection of the spinal cord in monkeys / by Frederick W. Mott ; communicated by Professor Schäfer.

  • Mott, F. W. (Frederick Walker), 1853-1926.
Date:
1892
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Results of hemisection of the spinal cord in monkeys / by Frederick W. Mott ; communicated by Professor Schäfer. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    of the cord, and then are mingled together, so that the degeneration from a lesion of the lower part of the cord is not dense. This tract has recently been found by Bechterew to undergo development at a difterent period from the rest of the lateral column. It is almost certainly a sensory tract, and physiological facts seem to show that its fibres are connected with the posterior roots of the opposite side.” Goll’s column is the other long ascending tract. Most observers are agreed that it is made up of fibres of the posterior roots which pass into the posterior column of the same side, tend towards the mid line to form the jiosterior median column, and do not reach their end station until they arrive at the nucleus of the funiculus gracilis of the medulla. Section of the roots of the cauda equina in Monkeys showed only degenei’a- tion of fibres of the same side—vide my article on “ The Bipolar Cells of the Spinal Cord,” ‘Brain,’ Part IV., 1890. Tooth and Singer’s experiments {loc. cit.) support this view. It is probable that sensations passing along these fibres, having reached the nucleus in the medulla, decussate to the opposite side by the fibres of the fillet. Most authorities consider that the fibres of Goll’s column convey sensations connected with the muscular sense. In the ‘ International Journal of Medical Science,’* January, 1891, I published the report of a case of complete sclerosis of Goll’s column, and referred to three other cases ; notably an almost identical case reported by Vierordt, in which there was no loss of sensibility to tactile, painful, or thermal sensations ; whether the muscular sense was lost or not could not be determined because of the great muscular wasting. In locomotor ataxy in which there is loss of the muscular sense these columns are involved. There are then four jDaths by which sensoiy impulses may be conveyed to the brain :— 1. By the posterior roots through fibres of Goll’s column of the same side to post- pyramidal nucleus, thence by fillet to the opposite side. 2. By posterior roots to short fibres of postero-external column to form sensory collaterals in contact with cells of Clarke’s column, and thence by direct cerebellar tract of the same side. Whether all the fibres of this tract go to the cerebellum, or whether some may not go to the cerebral hemisphere of the opposite side, cannot be determined. 3. By posterior root fibres, to end in collaterals around cells of posterior horn of opposite side, and thence by antero-lateral tract fibres to the medulla (Gowers), or the fibres instead of ci’ossing on their entrance into posterior horn come into connection with cells whicli give off fibres that pass by the anterior commissure to the antero- lateral tract of tlie opposite side (Edinger). Neither of these theories, however, is supported upon a firm basis, nor is it known what sensory impulses are conveyed by * “Complete Sclerosis of Goll’s Column. Chronic Leptomeningitis. Alcoholism.” ‘Journal of Inter- national Medical Science,’ .la.nuaiy, 1891.