. A manual of diseases of the nervous system. changed adjacent to any increasein the interstitial tissue, and they contrast with the unstained healthyfibres in the vicinity (Fig. 101, c). With or without this change inthe myelin, there is an irregular swelling of the axis-cylinders, such asis seen on examination in the fresh state. If the fibres are divided * The significance of this vacuolation has been much discussed. It is probablethat the vacuoles form after death, perhaps during the process of hardening, butthat they do not form unless the cells have been altered by disease. They havethus
. A manual of diseases of the nervous system. changed adjacent to any increasein the interstitial tissue, and they contrast with the unstained healthyfibres in the vicinity (Fig. 101, c). With or without this change inthe myelin, there is an irregular swelling of the axis-cylinders, such asis seen on examination in the fresh state. If the fibres are divided * The significance of this vacuolation has been much discussed. It is probablethat the vacuoles form after death, perhaps during the process of hardening, butthat they do not form unless the cells have been altered by disease. They havethus some pathological significance. 852 SPINAL COED. transversely at the places wliere the axis-cylinder is swollen, thisappears much larger than normal (Fig. 97, 6). Examples of thiswill be found in most of the figures. These intense degenerativechanges cause the breaking up of the myelin, and may involve thedestruction of the fibre, the space occupied by it being left othe] cases, however, the axis-cylinder persists and remains sur-. Flff. 101.—Acute transverse myelitis, fatal in three weel<s. Carminepreparations. A, section through most diseased part, at first lumbarsegment. Foci of inflammation scattered through the whole area of thiscord, most abundant in the posterior columns (the apparent enlargementof which is probably due to the direction of the section). Dilatation ofthe central canal. B, from the anterior cornu at A, S, a distendedvessel; the tissue crammed with lymphoid and other cells, among whichrun normal nerve-fibres. C, from the posterior column. A, c. The areasstaining deeply are seen to consist of tliickened trabeculsa, lymphoidcells, amorphous tissue, and also of nerve-fibres, the white substance ofwhich stains with carmine while that of the neighbouring healthy fibresdoes not.* • I am indebted to Dr. Dreschfeld for the section from which these drawings aremade. The patient was a girl aged twenty-three; paralysis, motor and sensory,was complete
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectnervoussystemdisease
