Diseases of the spinal cord.

  • Bramwell, Byrom, Sir, 1847-1931.
Date:
1882
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Diseases of the spinal cord. 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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    Each half segment consists partly of grey and partly of white matter. The grey matter (see fig. 6) is placed in the Fig. 6. The grey matter of the Spinal Segment. PGC—Posterior or grey commissure. CC—Central canal. centre of the half segment, and is completely surrounded by white matter except at one point—about the middle of its inner border—where it is prolonged towards the middle line, forming the corresponding half of the posterior or grey com- missure. This mass of grey matter consists of two extremi- ties or horns (cornua), as they are termed, joined by an in- termediate connecting portion. The anterior cornu is much larger than the posterior, and contains the motor nerve cells, which are of the greatest physiological and pathological importance. The posterior horn also contains nerve cells. They are smaller than those in the anterior cornu, and are more spindle-shaped. Their function is probably sensory. The motor cells are of large size, and are multipolar. (See fig. 7.) One of the poles, which is slender and unbranched, is termed the axis cylinder process. (See figs. 7 and 8.) In very favourable sections it may be traced forwards into the anterior root-fibres, which in leaving the cord pass through the anterior column in several separate bundles. (See figs. 3 and 21.) The other poles of the cell divide almost immediately after leaving the cell body into numerous branches, which are supposed to terminate in the