On the distribution of the cutaneous nerves etc. 303 



stated very positively that in the case of the thumb the palmar (me- 

 dian) twigs do not reach the dorsum, the same is asserted by Hilton *), 

 and also by Krause 2 ). 



Through the kindness of Mr. Wheeler, Surgeon to the City of 

 Dublin Hospital, and of Mr. Corley, President of the Royal College of 

 Surgeons, Ireland, I have had the opportunity of examining two cases 

 of nerve section in the living subject. Case 1 was a woman of about 

 fifty years of age in whom the ulnar nerve had been divided above 

 the elbow in May 1887. I made a careful examination of the affected 

 hand with the aesthesiometer and I have shown the result in fig. 3. 

 Over the ulnar margin of the hand, the little finger and half of the 

 ring finger the sensation appeared to be completely lost; sensation 

 was also greatly impared over a considerable part of the dorsum of 

 the hand and over the radial side of the proximal phalanx of the ring 

 finger; this is indicated by the blue shading in the figure. A narrow 

 band (indicated by red shading) on the radial side of the area just 

 described, showed slightly affected sensation. This case differs greatly 

 from the case described by Létiévant 3 ) in which the loss of sensation 

 was confined to the little and ring fingers and the transition from 

 affected to sound parts was abrupt. It differs also inasmuch as 

 sensation appeared to be completely lost on the ulnar side of the hand, 

 while in Létiévant's case a certain amount of sensibility was preserved. 

 That sensation may be completely lost in such cases is shown by a 

 case lately published by Dr. Jencken 4 ) in which, after traumatic section 

 of the ulnar nerve, sensation was so completely lost in the little finger 

 that the man would often allow it „to remain in contact with the 



Nerven sich bis unter den Nagel erstrecken; an den übrigen Fingern enden sie an 

 der Mittelphalange und wird die Endphalange von Zweigen der volaren Nerven auch 

 an der Rückseite versorgt. Mit Rücksicht auf den nervenreichsten und empfindlichsten 

 Teil der Finger, das Nagelglied, gehören also die Dorsalflächen der drei medialen 

 Fingerränder dem N. ulnaris, der fünf nächsten dem N. medianus, der zwei radialen 

 oder Daumenränder dem N. radialis an." 



!) „Rest and Pain". Fourth Edition. 1887. p. 196, 197. 



2 ) Handbuch der menschlichen Anatomie. Hannover. 1879. Zweiter Band. 

 S. 897. 



8 ) Op. cit. Fig. 4. p. 84. 



*) „Suture of Divided Ulnar Nerve after Six Months". British Medical Journal. 

 10. Dec. 1887. p. 1274. 



