MYELITIS SPINITIS ACUTE PARAPLEGIA. 501 



prepare some tinted sections. Mr Stirling hardened the 

 cord by means of a mixture of alcohol and acetic acid, and 

 attempted to colour the sections of it by means of an am- 

 moniacal solution of carmine. 



When a healthy spinal cord is submitted to this process, 

 it is found that the pigment only partially adheres to it. 

 The nerve cells, especially their nuclei, and the central por- 

 tion of the nerve fibres, alone becoming coloured, the peri- 

 pheral portion of the fibres (white substance of Schwann) 

 remaining of the purest white. These differences in the 

 absorption of carmine point to a chemical as well as a 

 structural difference in these portions of the healthy cord. 



In the diseased cord Mr Stirling observed, and by means 

 of many preparations we have had the opportunity of 

 verifying, that the carmine tinted the intercellular sub- 

 stance, the cells, and the different portions of the nerve 

 fibres indiscriminately. The chemical differences, which in 

 the healthy state exist in the different parts of the cord, 

 appearing, as a result of the diseased action, to have dis- 

 appeared. It would be interesting to know whether, in 

 other cases of acute red softening, this peculiarity in the 

 carmine reaction has been noticed. 



The case narrated above appears to us to be one purely 

 of acute red softening of the substance of the cord, i.e., a 

 softening the result of an acute congested and inflamed con- 

 dition of the cord a disease which has been called by some 

 authors, Myelitis. The case differs from the majority of 

 analogous ones in several particulars, especially in the 

 sudden occurrence of paralysis. It is rare to witness this 

 symptom at the outset of the affection. Usually the animal 

 begins to walk stiffly, and to experience difficulty in bend- 

 ing at the loins. There is often evidence of pain in this 

 region, especially when direct pressure is made on the 



