Supplement to ''Nature" May 3, 1906 



SUPPLEMENT TO "NATURE." 



LOCALISATION OF CEREBRAL FVNCTIONS. 



HistoU,i;ic(}l Studies on Ihc Localisnlion o] Cerebral 

 Function. By Dr. A. W. Campbell. Tp. xx + 360. 

 Published by aid of a subsidy from the Royal 

 Society. (Cambridge : University I'ross, 1905.) 

 Price i8s. net. 



THIS important monograph is a very valuable con- 

 tribution to neurological science, for the follow- 

 ing reasons:— (i) It further establishes a correlation 

 between histological structure and physiological func- 

 tion in the brain. (2) It furnishes a complete de- 

 scriptive atlas of .-idmirable illustrations of the cell 

 ,and fibre structure of the human cerebral cortex, 

 whereby neurologists will be enabled, by adopting Dr. 

 Campbell's methods, to examine pathological states 

 of the cerebral cortex and compare the same with the 

 normal. (3) It deals with certain important patho- 

 logical conditions of the cerebral cortex bearing upon 

 the subject of correlation of function and structure in 

 a fuller, more precise and detailed manner than has 

 ■hitherto been attempted, viz. amyotrophic lateral 

 sclerosis, tabes dorsalis, amputation of limbs, and 

 deaf-mutism. (4) It adds to our knowledge, by a 

 complete comparative survey of the cell and fibre 

 structure, of the cerebral cortex in the following 

 mammals : — cat, dog, pig, anthropoid apes, and man. 

 The author in a short introduction refers to the 

 work of some previous observers, and claims that he 

 has pieced together the disjointed knowledge of the 

 nistologv of the cerebral cortex by a complete survey 

 of its cell and fibre architecture. It is excusable for 

 one who has devoted a number of years to its study 

 to mal-° the following statement : — " the microscopist 

 will probably succeed in defining and rubbing the 

 corners 'off the boundaries of the productive field " 

 which experimental and clinico-anatomical observ- 

 ations have shown to be correlated with precise func- 

 tions, which, however, have not, as the author says, 

 come from the " pens " of the physiologists or from 

 *' an honoured coterie of observers following in the 

 footsteps of Broca," but from an army, of whom, in 

 England, Hughlings Jackson was the leader. 



We doubt very much whether present methods of 

 histologv will throw any new light, beyond that which 

 has been already shed by Flechsig, on the higher 

 functions of the cerebral cortex ; in fact, that Dr. 

 Campbell should have used six out of eight brains from 

 persons of unsound mind dying in Rainhill Asylum, 

 with the assurance that they in no way differed from 

 the normal, is not very hopeful in this respect. 



Chapter i. deals with material and methods. The 

 essential feature was the systematic examination of 

 every part of the cortex according to a definite plan 

 of dividing the hemisphere into fifty or sixty blocks ; 

 these were numbered, and sections from each block 

 of the uniform thickness of 25 /t were taken at 

 intervals of i mm. and subsequently stained for cells 

 and fibres bv two well known methods, then mounted. 

 JMicroscopic drawings were then made to scale, the 

 NO. 1905, VOL. 74] 



low power at a magnitude of 80 i and the high power 

 at 4S0/1. 



Dr. Campbell, having thus acquired a topographical 

 knowledge of the cell and fibre structure of the human 

 cortex, has applied that knowledge to a comparative 

 histological survey of the brain of the anthropoid apes, 

 and of certain pathological conditions of the cerebral 

 cortex. 



Chapter ii. consists of general histological consider- 

 ations on mcdullated fibre arrangement and cell 

 lamination. It may be noted that the author has 

 made seven layers of cells; it would probably have 

 been better had he restricted the term layers to those 

 which are laid down in the developing embryo. 



Chapter iii. deals with the prc-central or motor area. 

 Bevan Lewis and Clarke, in a valuable communi- 

 cation to the Proceedings of the Royal Society, 1S7.S, 

 mapped out the motor area by the presence of- the 

 large Betz cells, which they showed, were found only 

 in the ascending frontal convolution and a small 

 co-terminous portion of the para-central lobule. Dr. 

 Campbell confirms these observations, and shows that 

 the saine distribution of the large cells occurs in the 

 anthropoid apes. Moreover, the distribution of these 

 cells coincides absolutely with the field which 

 Sherrington and Griinbaum have found respond to 

 unipolar faradisation, thus affording the connecting 

 link necessarv to apply the stimulation experiments on 

 the anthropoid apes' brains to the localisation of the 

 motor area in man. Strong confirmatory evidence of 

 the localisation of volitional muscular movements re- 

 siding in the pre-central area is afforded by the ex- 

 amination of the brain in two cases of amyotrophic 

 lateral sclerosis, a disease limited to the motor system 

 of neurons. The author describes a wholesale dis- 

 appearance of giant cells of Betz in this region. He 

 asserts that in the same brain the post-central gyrus 

 entirelv escaped affection. 



In three cases of amputation of the leg and a like 

 number of cases of amputation of the arm, in which 

 the central convolutions were examined in a series of 

 sections, alterations were discovered limited in dis- 

 tribution to fields agreeing closely with the leg and 

 arm areas delimited by experimental observation. At 

 the level of the superior genu the annectant gyrus or 

 buttress, which is relatively devoid of " giant cells," 

 seems to be an important guide to the point where 

 the trunk area intervenes between those of the arm 

 and leg. 



Chapter iv. is on post-central and intermediate post- 

 central areas. This area is readily defined in the 

 anthropoid ape and man, and is limited in its distri- 

 bution to the post-central or ascending parietal gyrus 

 and its para-central annexe; the floor of the fissure 

 of Rolando is the anterior boundary. Its cortical 

 structure is different from that of the pre-central 

 area; it exhibits structural features similar to that of 

 known sensory areas (the visual and auditory). Dr. 

 Campbell therefore denies its motor function. But, it 

 may be asked, would histological studies have been 

 listened to any more now than when Bevan Lewis 

 described the distribution of the motor cells had it 

 not been that experimental observations on anthropoid 



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