This work arose from the negative results of an examination, by a student in the department of neuropathology, of three spinal cords from cases having had amputation of a limb sometime previous to death. The findings were so little in accord with the idea of postamputation pathology gained from various textbooks, that a further examination of cords was undertaken in the same manner, from subjects not showing signs of cord lesions during life, and from that point of view called normal. Except for this general precaution material was chosen at random.
A variety of findings are recorded in the literature as a result of investigations of the changes in the anterior horn cells following amputation. No attempt has been made to include a complete literary review; the plan is only to give an idea of the varied results arrived at by a number of experienced investigators.
LITERATURE
Campbell1 says,