( 301 ) 



of labour was, that at present it has become nearly generally assumed 

 that the thalamus opticus, amongst other functions, also contributes 

 to provide for the sensibility of the crossed half of the body. 



From the side of the school of Dk.ikkink this opinion has been 

 put forth with marked emphasis in the excellent book of RoussY 1 ), 

 who includes the disturbance of sensibility in the crossed half of 

 the body in his '-syndrome thalamique." 



Hut not even in this work is treated a hearth localized so exclu- 

 sively on the thalamus opticus 3 ). The strict localization noted in our 

 case justifies the thesis: 



The candid portions of the ventral (/roups of nuclei in the thalamus 

 opticus t<tk<' a similar part in the central projection of the sensibility 

 of the shin and of the deeper portions in the distal etuis of tin' 

 crossed extremities (less completely of the trunk and of the roots of 

 the extremities, hard!;/ <it all of the face) as that taken by the 

 corpus geniculatuth mediale in the central projection of the impressions 

 from tlie cochlea and by the corpus geniculatum laterale in the projec- 

 tion of the impressions from the retina. 



A case, closely resembling the one given here, has been described 

 by von Monakow 8 ). Unfortunately he could not dispose of sufficient 

 clinical data, especially as regards the question whether there had 

 been hemianaesthesia during life. On the other hand he has described 

 with the most careful accuracy the secondary atrophic degenerations, 

 consequent to the loss of the posterior ventral nuclei, these degene- 

 rations being nearly the same as in the case related in the foregoing. 

 It appears to us that in this latter case the gyrus centralis posterior 

 receives a greater number of fibres from the atrophic area than in 

 this well-known case of vox Monakow, offering nevertheless many 

 striking points of resemblance with it. 



It is moreover an important fact that the face remained almost 

 wholly exempt from the loss of sensibility. Perhaps this is somehow 

 connected with the fact that the median principal nucleus and the 

 centre median remained likewise almost wholly free from the degene- 

 rative hearth. For in animals the secondary tracts of the trigeminus 

 have been traced principally to the centre median (Wallenberg ') 



') (iusi'AVE Roussv. La couche optique el 1<' syndrome thalamique. Paris, Stein- 

 heil. 1907. 



-) Roussy 1. c. Compare cas Jossaume p. 229. 



8 ) C. von Monakow. Zur Anatomic und Physiologie des unteren Scheitellappehens. 

 Arch. I. Psych. L899. XXXI S. 1—71. Fall D'auj. Also coal'. L. Edinger, Erkrank- 

 ung des Thalamus opticus, lid. XXI. Arch. I. I's. L899. S. 657. 



*) Adolf Wallenberg. Secundaire Bahnen aus dem frontalen sensiblen Trige- 

 -ünuskerne des Kaninchens. Anal. An/.. XXVI. L905 S. L45— 155. 



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