DEGENERATIONS EESULTING FROM LESIONS OF THE 

 CORTEX OF THE TEMPORAL LOBE. By W. H. 

 Thompson, M.D., Dunville Professor of Physiology, Queen's 

 College, Belfast. (Plates XVIIL, XIX.) 



The investigation from wliich the following results have been 

 obtained was begun as far back as the year 1892, in the 

 Physiological Department of University College, London, under 

 the guidance of Professor E. A. Schiifer. It was subsequently 

 continued in the Physiological Laboratory of this College, where 

 most of the work has, in fact, been carried out. The completion 

 of the research has, however, been delayed by several interrup- 

 tions. 



Two preliminary communications dealing with some of the 

 results obtained were made in 1892, one before the Pathological 

 Society of London, the other before the Section of Anatomy and 

 Physiology of the Royal Academy of Medicine, Dublin. A 

 more detailed account was given at the meeting of the British 

 Medical Association in Montreal in 1897. 



Objects of the Research. 



At the time this inquiry was undertaken, much controversy 

 existed concerning the seat of the cortical representation of the 

 sense of hearing. Ferrier, Munk, and Schiifer, proceeding 

 chiefly from the immediate results of extirpation of portions of 

 the cortex of the temporal and occipital lobes, had all arrived at 

 different, and in many respects contradictory views, regarding 

 the precise region in which this sense is represented. Ferrier, 

 as is well known, had located it in the upper end of the superior 

 temporal convolution. Munk's auditory sphere, on the other 

 hand, embraced portions of both temporal and occipital lobes ; 

 while Schiifer, without assigning the sensation to any special 

 part of the cortex, came to the conclusion that destruction of 

 Ferrier's auditory centre, or even complete removal of the 



