EXPERIMENTAL LESIONS OF THE PYRAMIDAL TRACT

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Abstract
The experiments reported here represent an attempt to produce lesions in the corticospinal or pyramidal tracts without damage to other motor systems. This cannot be attained by operative lesions on the motor cortex, for there descend from here many other efferent fibers besides the pyramidal, as Mellus1 long ago demonstrated. Lesions in the cord are equally unsatisfactory, for the pyramidal tract in this location can hardly be completely interrupted without damage to the rubrospinal system, although Ranson, Muir and Zeiss2 reported the case of one cat in which they thought that this might have been attained. The most satisfactory site is in the medulla, where the pyramids lie exposed on the ventral surface for a short distance above the decussation. Since not all of the fibers cross the midline, it is necessary to cut both tracts in order to remove completely pyramidal innervation from even one side of

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