REPORT UPON THE PATHOLOGY OF A CASE OF 

 GENERAL PARALYSIS. 



By C. L. Herrick, Professor of Biology at Denison University. 



Note of Transmissal,* 



Dr. A. B. Richardson, Superintendent of the State Hospital for the 

 Insane, Columbus, Ohio, 



Dear Sir: In pursuance of your suggestion, a microscopi- 

 cal examination has been made of the specimens placed in my 

 hands with results which are detailed beyond. While the his- 

 tory of the case, as you informed me, warranted us in expect- 

 ing only the usual lesions of general paralysis incident upon al- 

 coholism it was thought worth while to not simply make such 

 examination as should detect the expected lesions but to make 

 the study extended enough to afford a somewhat complete pic- 

 ture of the diseased brain as a whole. Circumstances have pre- 

 vented the completion of the task in the way at first contem- 

 plated. The employment of the slow and tedious fibre-stain 

 methods was rendered impossible by pressure of work immedi- 

 ately upon reception of the specimen. The present paper is 

 devoted almost exclusively to the cells of the various portions 

 of the brain. It is thought that what we now need is the col- 

 lection of minute, detailed data presenting the facies of a path- 

 ological state in its entirety and we have accordingly presented 

 illustrations of the various regions even where involving some 

 repetition and, in order to make the account more generally 

 useful, some historical and physiological suggestions are added. 

 Unexpectedly the distribution of the degenerated structures has 

 thrown incidental light upon an important morphological prob- 

 lem, reenforcing generalizations derived from the comparative 

 realm. 



Hoping that the paper, imperfect as it is, may serve its 

 purpose in preparing the way for more systematic and useful 

 work in the same direction. 



I am yours respectfully, 



C. L. Herrick. 



*Siniultaneously appearing as Pathological Bulletin, No. i, of 

 the Columbus State Hospital for the Insane. 



