XII, B, 4 Matialang: Degeneration of Peripheral Nerves 



111 



cases studied belong. This explanation is sustained by the experiments 

 in fowl by Vedder and Clark, from which they drew the following 

 conclusions : 

 a. Degeneration is present as early as the seventh day of polished rice 



feeding. 

 6. Degeneration may be present without symptoms of neuritis even after 

 thirty-five days of feeding. 



c. Degeneration occurs before the symptoms. 



d. Advanced degeneration may be present with no symptoms of neuritis. 



4. Unbalanced diet may be responsible for degeneration in those who died 

 of accidents or diseases of short duration, the degeneration being 

 independent of and preceding the disease. 



Osier (4) gives the following causes under the etiology of mul- 

 tiple neuritis: 



(a) . The poisons of infectious diseases, as in leprosy, diphtheria, typhoid 

 fever, small-pox, scarlet fever, and occasionally in other forms; (6) the 

 organic poisons, comprising the diffusible stimulants, such as alcohol and 

 ether, bisulphide of carbon and naphtha, and the metallic bodies, such as 

 lead, arsenic, and mercury; (c) cachectic conditions, such as occur in anaemia, 

 cancer, tuberculosis, or marasmus from any cause; (rf) the endemic neuritis 

 of beri-beri; and (e) lastly, there are cases in which none of these factors 

 prevail, but the disease sets in suddenly after overexertion or exposure to 

 cold. 



. According to this author neuritis in tuberculosis is not com- 

 mon, while in typhoid fever parenchymatous changes have been 

 met with in the peripheral nerves and appear to be not very 

 uncommon even when there have been no symptoms of neuritis. 

 In bacillary dysentery peripheral neuritis, though often con- 

 fined to one nerve, is not uncommon in the mild forms of the 

 disease. (6) 



SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 



1. In a mixed autopsy service in Manila 88 out of 104 cases 

 showed microscopically degeneration of the peripheral nerves* 

 by the Marchi method. Of these 88 cases the degeneration was 

 slight in 55, moderate in 29, and marked in 4. 



2. Of the 88 cases of nerve degeneration more than half (49) 

 occurred between the ages of 20 and 50 years, but no age was 

 exempt. 



3. Of the 88 cases of nerve degeneration 69 had nephritis of 

 some form. 



4. The condition of nutrition is not an important factor in 

 determining the nerve degeneration, and a reasonable interval 

 (two to forty-eight hours) between death and autopsy does not 

 necessarily mean a sequential myeline sheath change, as demon- 

 strated by the Marchi method. (These bodies were kept at a 

 temperature just above freezing.) 



