Lexic.us

Definition of Gray substance

1. Noun. Greyish nervous tissue containing cell bodies as well as fibers; forms the cerebral cortex consisting of unmyelinated neurons.

Medical Definition of Gray substance

1. The cortex of the brain which contains nerve cell bodies. The gray matter is in contrast to the white matter, the part of the brain that contains myelinated nerve fibres. The gray matter is so named because it in fact appears gray. The white matter is white because that is the colour of myelin, the insulation covering the nerve fibres. In the mysterious affair at styles (1920), agatha christie first quoted the fictional belgian detective hercule poirot in regard to his gray matter: 'this affair must be unravelled from within.' he tapped his forehead. 'these little grey cells. It is up to them as you say over here.' (12 Dec 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Gray Substance

Literary usage of Gray substance

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Science by American Association for the Advancement of Science (1910)
"During the cleavage the clear-gray substance goes into the three quartets of ... The gray substance is largely of a fatty nature, the yellow contains yolk, ..."

2. A Treatise on human physiology by John Call Dalton (1882)
"The connections of the nerve fibres with the gray substance, and their course in the longitudinal columns, are the most important for this purpose. ..."

3. Anatomy, Descriptive and Surgical by Henry Gray (1901)
"... the crossed pyramidal tract from the gray matter of the cord. It consists of (a) longitudinal Flo. .'W.—Transverse section of the gray substance of the ..."

4. The American Journal of the Medical Sciences by Southern Society for Clinical Investigation (U.S.) (1870)
"Heterotopia of /he gray substance of the Brain. ... Upon examination after death a new formation of the gray substance of the brain was detected. ..."

5. Microscopical Morphology of the Animal Body in Health and Disease by Carl Heitzmann (1882)
"In the brain and the spinal cord, it is only the gray substance which can be ... According to Th. Meynert,* the gray substance of the brain may be divided ..."

6. A Text-book of human physiology: Designed for the Use of Practitioners and by Austin Flint (1881)
"The gray substance is composed chiefly of cells. The encephalon is contained in the cranial cavity. In the human subject and in many of the higher animals, ..."

7. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease by Philadelphia Neurological Society, American Neurological Association, Chicago Neurological Society, New York Neurological Association (1884)
"ity are the ganglionic elements scattered throughout the gray substance. We realize that a contraction of the re- ticulum of the living matter, ..."

8. Anatomy, Descriptive and Applied by Henry Gray (1913)
"gray substance.—The gray substance of the cerebellum is found in two situations: (1) on the surface, forming the cortex; (2) as independent masses in the ..."

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