1890.] Physiology. 1209 
and exhaustive detailed examination of the brain, and the report is a 
model for its fulness and careful attention to the exact description of 
his procedure. 
The paper deals only with the gross anatomy of the brain.  Esti- 
mations of the volume (1178 c.c.) and weight (1204 grms.) showed no 
especial deviations from those of other brains. The cerebrum was 
markedly brachycephalic. A general outlook over the whole ence- 
phalon showed no striking anomalies, but a careful study of the surface 
of the cerebral } combined with measurements of the cortical 
areas revealed some interesting facts. That portion of the left inferior 
frontal convolution, that is generally believed to contain the centre for 
articulate speech, was found poorly developed, and on both sides the 
Island of Reil was exposed more than normally, that of the left side 
nearly three times that of theright The occipital lobes were somewhat 
flattened. The cuneus, which is supposed to contain the centre for 
vision, was normal on the left side, but imperfectly developed on the 
right, a fact that is to be correlated with the blindness of the left eye, 
and the partial sensitiveness of the right eye to light for the first seven 
ears of Laura’s life. The temporal lobes were disproportionately 
small, but alike on both sides. No decided evidence of defective de- 
velopment of the centres for hearing, smell or taste, or of exaggerated 
development of the centre for touch, could, however, be deduced from 
the gross anatomy. Measurements of the cortical areas demonstrated 
a better superficial development of the right Island of Reil, than the 
left, of the right frontal lobe than the left (due largely doubtless to the 
defective left inferior frontal gyrus), of the left occipital lobe than the 
right, and of the left ‘‘ residual portion ° than the right. The super- 
ficial area of the whole left hemisphere was greater than that of the 
right, which the author associates with the fuller development of the 
caudal portions of the hemisphere. Compared with the measurements 
of H. Wagner, Jensen and Calori, Laura’s brain possessed a total area 
small for its weight, a fairly average length and depth of its sulci, and 
a slightly less than average development of the area of the frontal 
Reports on the thickness of the cortex and on the internal 
anatomy and histology are not yet published. 
Course of Sensory Fibres.—The course of the sensory nerve 
fibres through the spinal cord and brain is not so fully understood as 
that of the motor fibres. His believes that the real nucleus of most 
sensory fibres is in the ganglion of the posterior root, not in the cord. 
The work of Schiefferdecker, Krause, Schwalbe, Lissauer, Bechterew, 
Kahler, and Takacz, has shown that upon entering the cord the pos- 
terior root fibres go in two directions, namely, a portion direct into 
