264 ILLINOIS STATE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



EDUCATION IN THE THERAPEUTICS OF GRAY 



MATTER 



Dr. Clarence W. East 



Chief, Division of Child Hygiene, State Dept. of 



Public Health, Springfield, III. 



The gray matter is anatomically disposed as the cortex 

 of the brain, as several islands within the same and as the 

 medulla of the brain stem and of the spinal cord. 



Histologically it is composed of many-poled cells and 

 branched dendritic processes, (arborizations) together 

 with its supporting tissue. Functionally it is the seat of 

 so-called "centers" related both to trophism and to action, 

 mental, special sense and motor. 



Lesions of gray matter may be discrete, general, or com- 

 plicated by those of white matter or of other tissues or or- 

 gans. 



Discrete lesions and their therapy are the subject of dis- 

 cussion in this paper. The discussion is further narrowed 

 to the motor gray matter. Motor gray matter is related 

 in location to trophic substance and is probably related to 

 it in function. 



The location of motor gray matter is each side of the 

 fissures of Rolando for a variable area, beneath the ven- 

 tricle of the medulla oblongata, and in the interior horns 

 of the spinal cord. 



The function of motor gray matter is receiving and pas- 

 sing of impulses to the motor tracts of brain and cord and 

 to the peripheral nerves. 



Lesions of this substance are treated on the basis of four 

 principles, the specific, the hygienic, the trophic-instinc- 

 tive and the educational. 



If the lesion be specific within the range of known speci- 

 fic remedies, specific treatment is fundamental. 



The hygienic treatment has the same importance as in 

 pathologic conditions of other tissues and organs. 



The trophic-instinctive belongs to the relatively un- 

 conscious and involuntary activities by which all repair is 

 made and the fundamental functions are achieved. 



