Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: A contribution to the study of myelitis / by S.G. Webber. 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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![lumbar region, it was still less, coutined to the centre of the la- teral columns, and very slight on the rig]it. It gradually dis- appeared first from the right. In the lumbar region, several roots of nerves were examined. The posterior roots had undergone apparently eouBiderable de- generation, also the anterior roots, though in these more nerve- libres had retained their nprmal appearance. The pia mater surrounding the nerve-roots and the bloodvessels connected with them, shoM^ed the same increase of nuclei, or pi-esence of pus corpuscles, as were seen around the cord. Beyond the dura mater this change was not noticed. In the spinal ganglia many of the nuclei of the connective tissue were granular. The nerve-cells were strongly pigmented, their nuclei were more deeply stained by carmine than is usual in healthy cells. These two cases represent two classes of spinal disease. Cli- nically, there is a difEerence, in that in one there was bed-sore, re- tention of urine, and involuntary discharge of faeces. The silence in regard to the condition of the muscles in the second case may be supposed to show that there was no marked wasting. Unfortunately, at the autopsy I did not examine them. Pa- thologically, the difference was very great. In the first case, the anterior cornua and their nerve-cells were much diseased ; the membranes and the neuroglia of the white substance com- paratively little. In the second case, the anterior cornua and cells were scarcely touched; the neuroglia of the white sub- stance, especially at the periphery, and the pia mater, were ex- tensively changed. In the first case, the anterior roots were more affected than the j^osterior; in the second, the reverse was the case. It is interesting to notice the almost complete destruction of the nerve-fibres of the anterior roots in the first case, where the cells of the anterior cornua were destroyed ; whereas, in the second case, in which those cells were nearly healthy, the nerve-fibres of the anterior roots were also nearly healthy. In the second case,- the ganglion of the posterior root was more affected than in the first case. The difference in the condition of the bloodvessels in the two cases is of espe- cial significance. In the second case, the nuclei of the j^erivas- cular sheath were much increased, and the walls of the vessels](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2228834x_0018.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
