Secondary degeneration following unilateral lesions of the cerebral motor cortex / by Sutherland Simpson.

  • Sutherland Simpson
Date:
1902
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Secondary degeneration following unilateral lesions of the cerebral motor cortex / by Sutherland Simpson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    Vassale [3] adds to Marclii's solution a small quantity of nitric acid. Both these modifications wei-e tried, but in my hands neither of them has been very successful. My best results have been obtained either with old fluid (i. e. fluid which has been used over and over again), to which a little fresh osmic acid was added from time to time, or by using Marclii's solution prepared from Miiller's fluid in which some brain tissue had been immersed for several months previously, a me- thod adopted by Hamilton [31] in staining sections. Either of these, I am convinced, will reveal fine degeneration where the fi-eshly pre- pared Marchi fluid will fail to do so. Methods of testing effects of lesion on motion and sensation. In testing the motor and sensoiy symptoms which followed from the lesions, the method adopted was as follows: — If the animal was tame and quiet, it was taken out of the cage and allow^ed to move about tlie room, when its general attitude and mode of walking were observed. In the case of monkeys the manner rii which they used tlieir limbs in climbing was noted. To test voluntaiy power in the arms, the animal (monkey) was offered a small piece of banana or apple, or, a few currants were placed upon the floor within its reach, and its ability or inability to take or pick up these was noted. In the case of tJie hind limbs, the animal was lifted up, and gently swung towards the wire-netting of the cage, or dropped towards (but not on to) the floor. If the animal possesses the power of voluntarily moving its limbs, both are extended towards the cage or floor, but if voluntary power is absent in one or other of the limbs there is no such movement of that limb. With an animal suspended in this Avay the paralysed limb hangs pendulous while the non-paralysed limbs are usually drawn up somewhat. Voluntary power is much more easily tested in the monkey than in tlie cat, but when the latter is suddenly dropped towards the floor (on all fours) there may be no movement of the non-paralysed linil) or limbs as a whole, but in the normal animal the toes are ahvays extended and spread out as the foot approaches the floor, i. e. an attempt is made to catch the floor. No such movement of the toes, however, is observed in a paralysed