-692 
T. L. BOLTON. 
fuchsin. As the cells did not show a regular and marked 
degeneration, we need not concern ourselves with them. 
The fibres alone seem to have undergone a regular degenera¬ 
tion. Beginning with the sections from the level of the elev¬ 
enth dorsal nerve and proceeding caudal, the location of the 
degenerated nerve fibres will be pointed at the successive 
levels where specimens were taken. On a section from the 
level of the eleventh dorsal nerve a lesion appears in both the 
dorsal and ventral columns. In the dorsal columns it has a 
grosser appearance, and is not so diffuse as in the ventral col¬ 
umns. Large numbers of fibres have entirely disappeared 
from the region about both posterior horns of the gray mat¬ 
ter. The degenerated areas are not quite symmetrical in the 
right and left halves of the cord. In the ventral columns the 
degenerated columns appear singly, as a rule, and are distrib¬ 
uted around the periphery of the anterior columns as far as 
the points of entrance of the anterior roots of the spinal 
nerves. 
There are in addition more or less degenerated fibres dis¬ 
tributed throughout the entire section. The appearance of 
the section from the level of the first lumbar vertebra is simi¬ 
lar to that from the level of the eleventh dorsal. In the pos¬ 
terior columns the lesion is somewhat more marked, but in 
the anterior columns it is less marked and not so closely con¬ 
fined to the periphery. On the section from the level of the 
fourth lumber vertebra, no lesion, properly speaking, appears 
in the anterior columns, but it is perfectly plain in the pos¬ 
terior columns and involves a larger area of the section. The 
location about the posterior columns is about the same as on 
the other sections. As the animal was old and had been sub¬ 
jected to hard usage, the degenerate fibres in the anterior 
columns may have no pathological significance. The disturb¬ 
ance in the posterior columns is certainly significant of some¬ 
thing more than the decay resulting from old age and hard 
usage. It is confined entirely to the sensory areas. The first 
indication of any degeneration is the failure of the myelin 
substance to receive a stain, and not unfrequently the fibre 
that fails to stain is swollen. The axis-cylinder is next to dis- 
