568 
MR. SOLLY ON THE CONNEXION OF THE ANTERIOR COLUMNS 
followed the anterior and lateral columns of the cord solely to the cerebrum, and the 
posterior columns exclusively to the cerebellum. Consequently the corpora resti- 
formia or processus e cerebello ad medullam oblongatam have been described as con- 
sisting entirely of fibres from the posterior columns*. 
The author having been able, by repeated dissections of the brain previously hard- 
ened by long-continued immersion in alcohol, to satisfy himself of the existence of 
certain fibres, which have hitherto escaped observation, ascending from the antero- 
lateral columns of the spinal cord to the cerebellum, will proceed to detail their 
course and arrangement. 
In order to execute this portion of his task with clearness, he feels it necessary to 
refer to the composition of the cord, as demonstrated by a transverse section. It 
will then be seen that the cineritious neurine deposited in the interior of the cord is 
arranged on each side, so as to form two semicircles, with their convexities opposed, 
and attached by a transverse bridge thus. 
the posterior peaks alone reaching 
the surface of the cord. This last-mentioned arrangement of the gray matter, it will be 
seen, actually divides each side of the cord into two distinct columns. The posterior 
portion is the true posterior column, and the line of demarcation is distinct on the sur- 
face without a transverse section, in consequence of the posterior roots of the spinal 
nerves emerging at that point. All that portion of the cord which is anterior to this 
posterior lateral fissure not being divided in a similar way may be called the antero- 
lateral column. 
From the antero-lateral column of the cord there are two sets of fibres ascending 
to the cerebellum, one from the anterior portion of the antero-lateral column, the 
other from the posterior. The posterior set of fibres are separated from the posterior 
columns by the posterior peaks of gray matter ; and judging from the fact that the 
sensory division of the fifth pair of nerves is continuous with these fibres, it appears 
most probable they form part of the sensory tract. See Plate XXXVIII. fig. 2, i. 
The anterior set, the cerebellic Jibres of the anterior columns -f-, proceed from the 
front and sides of the cord, continuous therefore with the true motor tract. A por- 
tion of them may frequently be seen without dissection, and have been adverted to 
by several writers under the title of arciform filaments, though their termination in the 
cerebellum remained undiscovered. See fig. 1. e. 
These cerebellic Jibres of the anterior columns, opposite the decussation of the py- 
* Mr. Herbert Mayo is, I believe, the only author who points out the fact that the restiform bodies are 
partly formed by some fibres from the posterior part of the cord, but anterior to the posterior lateral fissure, 
and therefore not solely by the true posterior columns. In the second edition of his Outlines of Physiology, 
p. 273, he says, “ On cutting through and stripping down the corpus restiforme, it is found to carry with it 
the posterior lateral furrow.” 
t The fibres whose existence this paper is intended to demonstrate. 
