INTRODUCTION
For many years it has been noted that total loss of sensation after complete division of a peripheral nerve is limited to a much smaller area than we would expect from its anatomic distribution. Likewise, it has been observed that following injury of a peripheral nerve sensory symptoms may rapidly diminish and at times loss of sensation to pin prick be entirely absent.That severe widespread anesthesia results only from trauma of several nerve trunks of a plexus, has generally been accepted. Lesions of single nerves result in partial anesthesia or, if a severe anesthesia be present, the area of complete loss of sensation rapidly shrinks.Many attempts have been made to explain these phenomena. Among the older theories were: (1) That nerve fibers grow from healthy surroundings into the insensitive parts;1 (2) that after section of a nerve stimulation of the severed part may pass through an