Dr. Karl Schaffer, of Budapest, gives the results of his examination of the brains of three general paralytics. His paper is illustrated with five lithographs, showing sections of brain stained by Weigerts-Wolter's method. The degenerated parts take on the stain poorly. Schaffer finds the most degenerated parts in general paralysis to be the anterior and basal portions of the frontal lobes, the whole parietal lobes, the posterior median convolutions, the insula, and the temporal gyri, and the occipital lobes and the upper surface of the cerebellum. Less affected were the anterior median gyrus, the margins of the calcarine fissure, and the inferior occipito-gyri. This showed that degenerative process most affected the association centres of Flechsig, his sensory spheres being very much less touched. Schaffer holds that the degeneration of the cortex in general paralysis is not haphazard but selective. He upholds Flechsig's views, and considers that they have been confirmed by the recent researches of Ramon y Cajal, who has made an original study of the nerve-tissues in the foetus and in the newly-born child. The latter describes a specific plexus of centripetal nerve-fibres, which terminate in the motor area of the cortex, in the sphere of bodily sensibility, and in the visual area. It is significant that this plexus does not pass into Flechsig's association centres, confirming Schaffer's observation of the posterior median convolution being, in general paralysis, much more degenerated than the anterior. These considerations induce Schaffer to think that the posterior median gyrus belongs rather to the association centres than to the sensory areas.
Preserved repetition in thalamic afasia. A pathophysiological hypothesis
