( 267 ) 
Türek ') in 1856 on dogs, and by SHERRINGTON 2) from 1893—1900 
on monkeys. 
Careful dissections of the nerves of man and monkey, have led 
Bork *) to represent a schema of the arrangement of the area’s of 
the posterior roots — the dermatomata — which, arrived at by ana- 
tomical proceedings, offers great analogies with the results of the 
above-mentioned physiological researches. 
Clinical experience too, registering methodically the sensory 
troubles, found in individuals with organical lesions of the posterior 
roots, set up a topography of the dermatomata, (by the researches 
of Ross*), ALLEN Starr ), THorsurn*), Kocner?), Heap oy 
WICHMANN ®), agreeing well enough with the representations of 
TOURCK, SHERRINGTON and Bork. 
All these researches consider the dermatomata as unities and agree 
to a certain degree with one another as to the way in which they 
are ranged on trunk and extremities, but they hardly teach us anything 
about the constitution of that unity itself or about the manner of its 
functioning. 
And yet the supposition that the posterior root represents in itself 
a unity, is by no means proved beforehand, because it is composed 
of different bundles (in the animals we experimented upon, from 
1) C. Wepr. Ueber die aut-Sensibihtäts Bezirke der einzelnen Riickenmarkspaare 
von weilen Prof. Dr. L. Térck. Aus dessen litterarischer. Nachlässen zusammengestellt. 
Denkschriften der Wiener Akademie 1869. Vol. 29. S. 299, 
2) CHARLES S. SHERRINGTON. Experiments in examination of the peripherical distri- 
bution of the fibres of posterior roots of some spinal nerves. Phil. Trans. R. S. 1893. 
B. Vol. 184. 
Cuartes S. SneRRINGTON. Experiments in examination of the peripherical distri- 
bution of the fibres of the posterior roots of some spinal nerves. Part. I. Phil. Trans. 
KS 1898.5. Vol.-190..p. 45. 
3) Lours Bork. Een en ander uit de segmentaal-anatomie van het menschelijk lichaam 
Ned. Tijdschr. voor geneesk. 1897. 12 Juni en 4 Sept. I. pag. 982. LI. p. 365, voorts 
Louts Bork in Morph. Jahrb. XXIJ, XXIIL, XXV, XXVI, XXVII, XXVIII. 
4) James Ross. Distribution of anaesthesia in cases of disease of the branches and 
of the roots of the bracchial plexus. Brain. Vol. 7, 1885. p. 66. 
5) ALLEN Srarr. The surgery of the spinal Cord. 1889. 
ALLEN STARR. Local anaesthesia as a guide in the diagnosis of lesions of the upper 
portion of the spinal cord. Brain. Vol. 17. 1894. p. 483. 
6) WILLIAM THORBURN. On injuries of the cauda equina. Brain. Vol. 10. 1888. p. 381. 
7) Kocuer. Grenzgebiete der Medicin. 
8) Henry Heap. On disturbances of sensation with especial reference to the pain 
of visceral disease. Brain. 1893. Prt. | and IL. p 1 ete. 
9) R. WICHMANN. Die Riickenmarks-Nerven und ihre Segmentbeziige. Wiesbaden, 
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