The several functions associated with the rubrospinal system can best be outlined under the headings: (1) functions as a conduction pathway from the cerebellum and (2) functions intrinsic in the red nuclei themselves.
REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
Functions as a Conduction Pathway.
—Cerebellar Muscular Incoordination: Clinicians and experimentalists are agreed that irregularity in muscular movement is the outstanding symptom to persist following extensive injury to the cerebellum. It is also agreed that incoordination is most obvious in voluntary movement. In fact, there is growing evidence1 that cerebellar ataxia is solely a function of the voluntary system as exemplified in the following statement by Walshe2: "There is no such phenomenon as cerebellar ataxia in the reflex preparation. It is solely voluntary movement, therefore, which is dependent upon cerebellar activity."That muscular incoordination might result from interruption of the rubrospinal path has been assumed largely on the basis of the