Excerpt from On Diseases of the Spine

All that has been said of the posterior columns Of the cord appears to apply equally to the restiform bodies - to the bodies which form the chief connection between these columns and the cerebellum, and not to those bodies only, but also to the small posterior pyramids of the me dulla Oblongata, which pyramids lie between the restiform bodies pos teriorly. The connection between the cerebellum and the posterior columns of the spinal cord, which is made by means Of the restiform bodies, is indeed such as to make it not improbable that the posterior columns perform for the cerebellum a similar Office to that which is performed for the cerebrum by the anterior columns, or, in other words, that the posterior columns do for the involuntary movements of coordination what appears to be done for voluntary movements by the anterior columns.

The anterior columns of the spinal cord have, without doubt, a Special connection with the anterior roots of the spinal nerves, and an all-important part to play in voluntary movement; and yet this cannot be said Of them, as was formerly supposed, in every part Of their course. The power of voluntary movement on the same side Of the body, in the muscles behind the section, is altogether destroyed when one Of the anterior columns is cut across, unless the out be in the part which lies immediately below the anterior pyramid of the medulla Oblongata; and the same result happens when the adjoining lateral column is cut across where it lies side by side with that part of the anterior column which may be cut across without giving rise to para lysis. It is plain, in fact, that in the uppermost part Of their course the anterior columns have not that intimate connection with the an terior roots Of the Spinal nerves, and that all-important part to play in voluntary movement, which they evidently have everywhere else. And it is also plain that the anterior columns have somewhat to do with sensation as Well as with voluntary motion, for it is a fact that a certain degree of numbness is always produced by the injuries which give rise to paralysis.

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