On out-lying nerve-cells in the mammalian spinal-cord / by C.S. Sherrington ; communicated by M. Foster.

  • Sherrington, Charles Scott, Sir, 1857-1952.
Date:
1890
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On out-lying nerve-cells in the mammalian spinal-cord / by C.S. Sherrington ; communicated by M. Foster. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    directly connected with fibres of the posterior roots, and named by him “ Hinter- zellen.” It is conceivable that the out-lying cells are really equivalent to cells of the dorsal root-ganglion, although placed in an intra-spinal position. If so, they may help to explain the observation of Joseph''^ that not all the nerve-fibres of the dorsal root degenerate on being cut off from the root-ganglion. Joseph’s observations were, however, made on an upper cervical nerve-root. If, as according to the view of HENSENf and of Schenk,;}; the cells of the dorsal root-ganglia are nothing else than nerve-cells that originally were a part of the cord itself, then the out-lying cells in the root-zone suggest that the posterior vesicular column of Clarke may be composed of cells equivalent to those composing the root- ganglia, that have, however, retained their original position as a constituent of the cord.§ The occurrence of Clarke’s column in the thoracic region would then well agree with other features which show that region to present more primitive characters than, for instance, the regions of the enlai’gements. gi’oup. Frkud’s papers on the subject appeared in 1877 and 1878. He designated the large cells into which he traced the posterior root-fibres innere Hinterzellen. The name anssere Iliriterzelleyi he reserved for certain cells, similar, ho considered, to the innere Hinterzellen, which he found placed upon fibres of the posterior root, between the root-ganglion and the ))osterior horn of grej matter of the cord. Accoi'ding to Ekkod, some of the riussere Hinterzellen lie at the surface of the cord, ujion fibres of the posterior rootlets which ruii foi' a distance upward along the surface of the spinal cord. Other indi- viduals of the dussere Hinterzellen lie within the cord, upon nerve-fibres of the posterior roots in their inti-a-spinal course. If ibis nomenclature be transferred to the Mammalian cord, then the cells of the posterior vesicuhn- column are the innere Hinterzellen of Petronujzon, and the out-lying cells of the posterior root-zone are the intra-spinal set of the anssere Hinterzellen. As judged of from Eeeud’s figures of Jnnnoccjjfe.s’ cord, the innere Hinterzellen do certainly in their position, and fairly in thaii’ form also, justify Sth.i.inu’s view of their identity with Ct,\nivE’s vesicular column of the Mammalian cord_ The ai)pcarance of them in some sections of Annnuccetes’ cord, which I have been permitted to examine through the kindness of Dr. G.VSKELr,, also bears out in this respect the impression obtained from the figures given by Fi;kuI). That the cells of Ci.arke’s column are connected on their proximal side with the fibres of the cerebellar tract admits of little doubt; as to their distal connections, it may be said that two views are current. 'J’he one, which has recently been ably su]iported by ]\Iott (loc. cit.), is that the cells are connected with afferent fibres, fibres of the posterior root. The other (Gaskell, Hill) is that Ci.arke’s ctdumn is connected with the etlercnt fibres of anterior roots. Of these views, the former, I think, derives sujiiiort fi'oni the facts observed Avith regard to out-lying cells in the posterior root-zone of the cord; but it is dilficult to believe that these out-lying cells, although they appear equivalent to members of Ci.arke’s column, can be at all closely connected with any fibres in the anterior root. Indeed, it appears more likely that not only the \-csicular gi-oiq) of Clarke, and the out-lying cells of the external posterior column, but also the cells described above (p. 4il) as occurring in and near the gelatiuosa, all belong to the afferent system entering by the j.'o.sterior root.—June 12, 1890.] * ‘ Archiv fiir Physiologic,’ Du IIoi.s-Rey.moND, 1888. t “Pool), fiber d. Hrfruchtung u. Entwick. dcs Kaninch. u. IVleersclnv.” ‘ Ztschr. f. Anat. u. Entwickl., vol. 1, 187(i. I “ Die Entwick. iler Gangl. ti. dcs Lobus electricus.” ‘ Sitz. d. Kais. Akad. zu Wien,’ vol. 74. § Interesting in this connection arc the small ganglia intcrcalaria Avhich, as Hyrtl w.as the first to note, occasion.'illy occur on the posterior roots of the human cord, between the main i-oot-ganglia and the cord itself, ([f. I hull,.