The Spinothalamic Tract in Man

In 1889 Edinger1described a tract taking origin from cells in or about the posterior horn, crossing the midline and ascending in the anterior or anterolateral column of the spinal cord. He was able to follow this column as high as the interolivary lamina, where it seemed to mingle with fibers of the medial lemniscus. Previous investigators had shown that fibers of the posterior root entered the posterior columns and ascended to the nuclei of the posterior columns in the medulla. Edinger noted that such a pathway could not explain the anesthesia (?) which he found on the contralateral side of experimental animals after hemisection of the spinal cord. He did not, however, recognize that there was not really anesthesia, but only analgesia. It was a clinician and neuropathologist who showed definitely that the fibers carrying pain and temperature reside in the anterolateral columns. Spiller2attended a patient suffering