377 



•rtrjinal glrtirUs* 



XXXVI. — A E-EPOET 01!^ RECENT EeSEARCHES INTO THE MeSTIITE 



Anatomy of the Spinal Cord. By "W. B. Kesteven, F.E.C.S. 

 [With Plates IX. X. XI.] 



The object of the writer lias been to collect in brief compass, from 

 various essays and monographs, the principal results of recent re- 

 searches into the microscopic anatomy of the spinal cord, embracing, 

 on the present occasion, that portion only of the cord which extends 

 from below the medulla oblongata. 



The several essays by Mr. Lockhart Clarke have been followed as 

 the basis of the following remarks, and the information is conveyed 

 for the most part as nearly as possible in the words of Mr. Clarke. 

 Lest it should appear that an undue prominence is thus given to the 

 observations of that anatomist, it shoiild be borne in mind that the 

 advances recently made towards an accurate insight into the rela- 

 tions of the elements of nervous structiu^es, are mainly due to the 

 method of preparing transparent sections, wliich was introduced by Mr. 

 Clarke, and which with some slight modifications has been followed 

 by subsequent investigators, who have all more or less confirmed the 

 accuracy of his observations. Stilling's magnificent and voluminous 

 treatises having been founded upon the results of the examination by 

 reflected light, of thin sections of simply hardened cord, aflbrded 

 conclusions which have been shown by later observers to be in many 

 points obscure and erroneous. The great diversity of opinion that, 

 until very lately, existed on almost every point of the anatomy of the 

 nervous centres, may be learnt from the historical sections of Schroe- 

 der van der Kolk's, Stilling's, and other essays — while a notable 

 approach towards agreement in observations and inferences, has been 

 perceptible since the examination of transparent sections by means 

 of transmitted light. 



The following Bibliography embraces all essays or works having 

 reference to the microscopic anatomy of the spinal cord, of which 

 the writer has been able to avail himself. 



It is from no want of appreciation of the value of the labours of 

 Grrainger, Solly, Bowman, Todd, and other previous anatomists, that 

 this subject has been taken up at a late point in its history. To have 

 done otherwise would have been to occiipy the pages of this journal 

 with an historical disquisition foreign to its objects and superfluous 

 to its readers. 



J. Lockhart Clarke. — 1. Eesearches into the Structure of the 

 Spinal Chord. Philosophical Transactions, 1851. — 2. On certain 

 Functions of the Spinal Chord, with further investigations into 

 its Structure. Fhilosophical Transactions, 1853. — 3. Further 



