094 DR ROBERT KENNEDY ON THE 



had to be passively replaced in the normal position. No sign as yet of returning 

 sensation could be got by pricking the affected parts with a needle. 



On the eighth day the plaster of Paris splint was removed in the case of Exp. 

 II. and III., and in both cases the animal was able to use the leg for walking 

 without any support, flexing and extending the leg at the tibio-tarsal joint, and placing 

 the plantar surface of the paw correctly ; and now voluntary power to readjust the paw 

 when it turned over, had been regained in the case of Exp. III. 



The first sign of returning sensation, viz., withdrawal of the limb on pricking the 

 paw with a needle, was shown in Exp. I. at the tenth day, and in Exp. III. at 

 the eleventh day, while Exp. II. showed no sign till the twenty-first day ; but 

 the evidence as to the date of return of sensation was very unsatisfactory, as the 

 animals were of such a docile nature that they often allowed the sound leg to be pricked 

 without making any sign. There is, therefore, no doubt that during the early days of 

 returning function, the animals would not be likely to show signs of sensation if this 

 was less keen than normally. 



At the fourteenth day the splint was removed in the case of Exp. I., and the 

 animal used the leg perfectly in walking and in running, always placing the plantar 

 surface down ; and in Exp. II. the foot very seldom turned over on the dorsal 

 surface, and was then quickly readjusted, and in Exp. III. the same progress was 

 made. 



By the twenty-first day all had recovered not only the use, but also the power, of 

 the leg so perfectly that the animals appeared to be perfectly normal, only close 

 inspection showing that the affected limb was somewhat less bulky than that of the 

 opposite side. 



Microscopic Examination. 



Methods. 



Immediately after the death of the animals portions of the nerves were removed for 

 histological examination. The portions removed were— a portion including the seat 

 of reunion, portions from the central segment, various portions from the peripheral 

 segment and its branches, muscular and cutaneous, and a portion from the opposite 

 sciatic at the level of the section. A number of glass rods with the two ends 

 bent over in the form of rings were at hand, and the portions removed were 

 each stretched between the two rings of one of these glass rods. The glass rod is, 

 I think, preferable to wood or cork for stretching, as by its use there is no possibility 

 of contamination of the fixing agent. The portions of nerve fixed to the glass rods 

 were then placed in Miiller's fluid, in which, with frequent renewals of the fluid, they 

 remained for eight or ten weeks. They were then prepared for paraffin, imbedded, and 

 longitudinal sections of the seat of reunion, and longitudinal and transverse sections 



