PATHOLOGIC PHYSIOLOGY OF STRABISMUS

STRABISMUS is a disturbance of ocular motility due to a number of separate and unrelated pathologic processes. The thesis I wish to develop is that, although at the present time we do not know what all these processes are, we may obtain a better understanding of strabismus by analyzing where and how each process affects ocular motility. The neuromusclar mechanism which controls eye movements may be compared to that which moves the limbs. The pathways of each mechanism may be divided into two easily identifiable portions: (1) a supranuclear portion, or upper motor neuron, and (2) a nuclear and infranuclear portion, or lower motor neuron. It makes no difference whether the pathways we are considering are transmitting impulses for what, philosophically, we may choose to call "willed," or voluntary, movements, or whether they transmit reflex, or involuntary, activity, each pathway is divisible into these two main portions, and affections of