On infantile paralysis and some allied diseases of the spinal cord : their diagnosis and treatment / by Julius Althaus.

  • Althaus, Julius.
Date:
1878
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On infantile paralysis and some allied diseases of the spinal cord : their diagnosis and treatment / by Julius Althaus. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by UCL Library Services. The original may be consulted at UCL (University College London)

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    sequently transformed into pus - corpuscles. The nerve-cells had undergone oedematous degeneration, the cell-substance having been converted into a molecular mass, in which the nucleus remained visible for some time, but finally likewise passed through a similar change. The neuroglia was not so much altered as might have been expected, yet in many places its protoplasmic nuclei were seen to be much more abundant than they are in sections taken from the normal portions of the same cord. Feinberg has experimentally produced myelitis in a rabbit, by plying its hind-legs, which were shaved, with ether-spray for half an hour. The animal became anaesthetic and paralysed, and con- tinued in that condition for about two hours, after which time it recovered. Six weeks afterwards, however, myelitis was developed, which proved fatal. Myelitis could also be produced by cauteris- ing the sciatic nerve with a stick of potash. All the animals thus experimented upon, died within a month of the operation. The parts between the place of cauterisation and the cord were found in their normal condition; the membranes were like- wise healthy, but the substance of the cord, more especially the central grey matter, was softened. Irritation of peripheral nerves may, therefore, be transmitted to the cord, without inflammation of the intervening structures, and it is probable that this influence is exercised by means of the vaso-