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The brain stem is a region of peculiar interest to the anatomist, physiologist and pathologist on account of its sharply defined nuclei and tracts, its varied physiologic functions and the striking disorders produced by lesions within its restricted area. In syringobulbia the lesions are essentially chronic, well demarcated and quite varied in location and extent. The author presents detailed records in eleven cases, with four anatomic studies by serial sections, and has drawn on over a hundred cases reported in the literature. The work is evidently a labor of several years, and Professor Guillain rightly states that the views advanced are worthy of serious consideration.
Especially noteworthy points made by the author are the paucity of symptomatology in the presence of extensive lesions, the frequency of unilateral signs in bilateral lesions, the preponderance of vegetative symptoms in certain cases and the almost uniform disturbances in facial sensibility and vestibular function.