ON CEREBRAL MOTOR CONTROL: THE RECOVERY 

 FROM EXPERIMENTALLY PRODUCED HEMIPLEGIA 1 



ROBERT OGDEN AND SHEPHERD IVORY FRANZ 



From the Physiological Laboratory of the George Washington University, and the 

 Government Hospital for the Insane 



Attention has recently been directed to the possibility of re- 

 covery of voluntary muscular control in human cases of cerebral 

 hemiplegia. 2 The results which have been reported are so dif- 

 ferent from those which have been predicted by neurologists that 

 the whole matter of cerebral control again comes to the fore as a 

 problem of intense practical as well as theoretical interest. It 

 has long been believed that if improvement in motor ability 

 does not occur in man within a period of two years following 

 the cerebral accident the paralysis is permanent. The series of 

 cases which have been reported show that this is not true, be- 

 cause even in cases of paralysis of eight or more years' duration, 

 considerable improvement follows suitable remedial measures of 

 the nature of exercise, including massage. 



It is well known that an animal which has had its so-called 

 motor cortex destroyed or the pyramidal fibers cut on one side 

 shows a condition similar to that of the human apoplectic hemi- 

 plegia. It is also known that, even though the hemiplegia be 

 complete, recovery of (voluntary) motor function takes place. 

 The beginning of this recovery in the dog comes in a day or two, 

 and after a few weeks the dog can use the legs on the paralyzed 

 side apparently as well as those on the non-paralyzed side. The 

 animal does, however, use the legs of the non-paralyzed side 



1 This investigation was made possible by a grant to one of us (F.) by the 

 Carnegie Institution of Washington, and we beg to express our sense of obliga- 

 tion for the assistance thus given. 



2 S. I. Franz, M. E. Scheetz, and A. A. Wilson: The possibility of recovery of 

 motor function in long-standing hemiplegia. Jour, of Amer. Med. Assn., 1915, 

 vol. 65, 2150-2154. 



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PSYCHOBIOLOQY, VOL. I, NO. 1 



