187 



meduUated. This püverly i-cgurds the su|)crninal (stratiini zonale,, 

 certainly not in a considerable degree, possibly not at all. This 

 is in accordance with what Cajal ^) ascertained for embryonal 

 preparations, and what one of us concluded fi'orn a patholoji;ical 

 case "1, in contradiction with the curi-ent view regarding this subject. 

 The following stratum of medulla (stratum opticum) is on the contraiy 

 less rich in fibres ; these originate thus for the greater part in the 

 nervus, resp. tractiis opticus. In cellpreparations (v. Gieson, Nissl) 

 no distinct difference from normal sections can be ascertained. 



2. Pulvinar thalami optici. The nucleus, as a whole, is decidedly 

 smaller. It is however very difficult to indicate what anatomical 

 category of fibres has disappeared. The long radiary fibres are 

 beautifully developed, they run distinctly into the capsula interna 

 retrolenticularis, and consequently most likely belong to the pro- 

 jection-system of the cerebral cortex. The cells have a healthy 

 appearance in the central part of the nucleus and in the medial 

 part. In the latero ventral part the cells have possibly drawn a little 

 too closely together, and there is too rich a collection of glia-elements. 

 We have not been able to deinonstrate a loss of cells. 



3. Corpus cjenicula tarn externum. The section was made almost parallel 

 to the entering tractus opticus. On account of the absence of the 

 ventral prominence hardly any vestige of a "hilus" can be observed. 

 Of course there is no question of a medullated tractus- resp. retina- 

 part; in so fai' as this part is grey in normal preparations one 

 can observe in this anophthalmos a considerable diminution of volume. 

 The frontal part of the ganglion misses thus the scattered thick 

 bundles of medullated fibres, which are seen lying as little blocks 

 amidst the finer network of fibres, the ventral part misses the infil- 

 trating fibres. The medullated lamellae are distinctly arranged in the 

 usual way. They contain however a little fewer fibres than are 

 found in the healthy ganglion. As, also in normal preparations, we 

 cannot tlnd in the retina-resp. tractus-part the "kleinste Elemente" 

 of VON Manokow, there is no occrision to ask if they have dis- 

 appeared. One sees indeed glia-cells in normal numbers, as it appears, 

 and more closely together than with a healthy person. In the ganglion 

 itself one finds both the nucleus principalis (Hauptkern) and the 

 nucleus magnocellularis (ventraler Kranz grosser Elemente) resp. after 



1) S. R. Y Gajal. Textura del sistema nervioso, 1904. II, i. p. 477. 

 ~) V. Valkenburg. Contribution a l'élude d. 1. substance blanche tempoio-occi- 

 pitale de rhomme, Tsych. e. Neurol. Bladen. 1911. 



