Syringomyelia. 7]^ 3 



the lower animals. One is recorded by Roger as occurring in the guinea 

 pig; and the other in the dog by Lienaux. These two cases, and the 

 histological examinations made by Lienaux do not definitely settle the 

 question whether the condition found in these animals exactly corre- 

 sponds with the condition found in man, as Lienaux supposed in his 

 ease. In this case symptoms of posterior paraparesis gradually devel- 

 oped in a two-year-old Newfoundland. After four months, there was 

 loss of sensation in the hind quarters, and later there were clonic con- 

 tractions of the digastric muscle which caused occasional opening of the 

 mouth. In the sixth month, the gait was unsteady, the croup was 

 sunken owing to excessive flexion of the joints of the legs; and, owing 

 to paralysis of the muscles on the left side, there was lateral curvature 

 of the spine the convex side of the curve being on the left. By this time 

 the animal only got up to feed or when told to do so, but soon lay dowTi 

 again powerless. From the scapular region backwards the left half of 

 the body was completely insensitive ; while there was marked hyper- 

 esthesia of the right side. The patellar reflex which, at the outset w^as 

 normal, was exaggerated on both sides. Later the area of anesthesia 

 spread to the neck. There was no disturbance of micturition or defe- 

 cation. 



At the postmortem, there was found a cavity extending the whole 

 length of the cord, the walls of which were covered with ependyma, and 

 which in the dorsal and lumbar portions of the cord, communicated with 

 small cavities scattered through the gray matter. "Wlien cut into, a 

 clear serous fluid escaped from this cavity. Microscopic examination 

 showed atrophy of the nerve cells, increase of the neuroglia cells, slight 

 unimportant perivascular infiltrations, and a secondary degeneration 

 extending up to the medulla. 



Literature. Lienaux, Ann., 1897, 486.— Lefebure, Eec, 1906, 516. 



