Thirty-five years ago von Bechterew1 wrote the first of a series of papers which described a syndrome consisting of stiff spine, nerve root pains, nerve root degeneration, alterations of sensation and muscle atrophies of a radicular distribution, which he ascribed to a pachymeningitis and compression of the nerve roots. Following the descriptions of Strümpell2 and Marie,3 much discussion ensued on the classification of the various types of spondylitis, and with the exception of the work done in France and the reports by Camus,4 Leri,5 Sicard6 and Barré,7 the neurologic side of the syndrome has received little attention.
In the English and American literature, references to the radicular syndrome have been few indeed, and under this title reference had not been made to spinal osteo-arthritis as the causative agent, until the appearance of Rosenheck's8 contribution in 1924, on radicular pain in spondylitis deformans. Well known textbooks9 and systems of medicine have