William J. Butler

ETIOLOGY OF CEREBRAL PALSIES IN CHILDREN.

A number of classifications have been suggested for the cerebral palsies of children; some based on their pathology, others on the clinical manifestations and one on the time of their occurrence. The latter, suggested by Sachs, is very convenient. He divides them into antenatal, natal and postnatal cases. It is not always easy to determine the etiology of cerebral palsies in individual cases. This is due chiefly to their coming late under observation or because the autopsy findings, obtained sometimes years after the onset of the disease, may not reveal the nature of the initial lesion and its cause. This applies more particularly to prenatal palsies and those occurring after birth. The cerebral lesions having their origin in utero seem to depend partly on conditions affecting the mother and secondarily the fetus and partly on the development of the fetus. The brain of the fetus may suffer lack of or