78-1
KK/yk 21 January 1978
Professor Alf Brodal
Anatomical Institute
University of Oslo
Karl Johans gate 47
Oslo 1, Norway
Dear Alf,
Before I returned home, I had two extra peaceful days at hotel rooms in Oslo and
Moscow which enabled me to look through our manuscript. In the plane I enjoyed
talking with two musicians and a painter. One is a Hungarian pianist, Zoltan
Kocsis. He said that he played piano in Aula University Hall last autumn.
One week has passed in Morioka, occupied with terrible jobs which had been
waiting for me in the university and in my lab. Now, at last, I have found
enough peace of mind to be able to sit and work.
I am very grateful to Inger and you, both in Prestasen and in Karl Johan for
giving us extremely happy days. We have really had a feeling of your children.
In the institute and sometimes at your comfortable home, how lucky a man I have
been for 3 months receiving superb education from you. Thank you very much.
Although I could not run with you, O feel that I did my best supported by your
kind, able guidance. From now on, I will do my work with concentration of mind,
being taught from you, so as to be your real co-worker.
I ask you to send me copies of 1) reference cards (copied in sheets of papers)
2) diagrams when Nanti Stang-Lund drew up 3) copies of olivocerebellar papers in
J. comparative Neurology when you received reprints 4) manuscripts which you
think I should read for our review article.
Enclosed you will find 3 copies of an old picture (together with the original)
of you together with Jansen and Theodor, reproduced in Morioka from the original
(this original picture I found in Veege’s office which should be placed in the
album in the expedisjon ? Veege knows this). These are my small gifts to the
three professors.
With cordial thanks and satisfaction, Takako, Yoko and I send Inger and you our
warmest greetings from your Happy Birthday!
Yours,
(Koki Kawamura)
78-2
AB/g February 27th 1978
Professor Koki Kawamura, M.D.
Department of Anatomy
School of Medicine
Iwate Medical University
Morioka 020
JAPAN
Dear Koki,
I am sorry that it has taken so long to get the drawings ready (Mrs. Stang-Lund
was ill for some time.) However, today I am sending copies of them under
separate cover, as well as the sheets with references. I have added another one,
as you will see.
Thank you so much for your kind letter of January 21st. I suppose you are by now
well settled I your daily routine. Thank you also for the copies of the picture
of Jansen, Theodor and myself. I have given each of them one.
I have a very sad information. Johan Torgersen died suddenly on January 29th,
probably from heart failure, while lying in his bed. He was 72 now. It is a
great loss not to have Johan with us any longer.
As to myself I am working frantically on the book. I hope I will soon be
finished with the chapter on the cerebellum, but there are still 2 whole and 3
half chapters to complete!
Life is far more hectic than suitable for a retired professor, and I am indeed
looking forward to finishing the book! I hope this will be before October 1st!
When you get any new data of your planned injection cases I will be interested
to hear from you.
We are now having a period with much snow and cold. This morning it was -15oC at
Prestasen. We are expecting Per and his family back this week.
I hope all is well with you, Takako ad Yoko. Please give them Inger’s and my
kindest regards.
All good wishes,
Yours sincerely,
Alf
Alf Brodal
78-3
KK/yk 11 March 1978
Professor Alf Brodal
Anatomical Institute
University of Oslo
Karl Johans gate 47
Oslo 1, Norway
Dear Alf,
Thank you for your kind letter of February 27th and for copies of the drawings,
the reference cards and the reprint of the olivocerebellar projection.
Particularly I am delighted and so grateful for sending me the figures of our
review article. I will soon start working with these figures and the preliminary
manuscript and prepare myself taking more time for studying the olivocerebellar
projection.
I am very sad to hear that Prof. Johan Torgersen has passed away. He was un
connaisseur of man; a very good Menschen-Kenner. I remember that he told me
about “Ainu” (name of a race), who has been living from ancient days in Northern
part of Japan and has its own language. We discussed about the origin of
Japanese people.
A few days ago, we sent the revised version of our (Kawamura and Hashikawa)
manuscript of the tectoreticular cells (HRP-study) to the Journal of Comparative
Neurology. We included two control cases where HRP was placed to the inferior
olive and the spinal cord. Originally I was thinking of asking you a favour
again reading through the revised manuscript. However, since I thought you are
extremely busy at present, I decided to submit the paper to J.C.N. before I send
you a copy. I send you the manuscript under separate cover. I would be very
grateful if you could give me your comments on this paper. I am thinking now
that we should have shorten the Abstract.
I am very busy at present working with my postgraduate students. I am helping
the writing of their papers of the corticotectal and corticopontine fibers (both
the Fink and Heimer and the HRP methods). The finding itself constains little
new information, but we find interesting to do the discussion. I am happy to
send you the manuscripts when they are ready for submitting.
We have our Anatomical Meeting at the beginning of April in Western part of
Japan. After the meeting we are planning to do HRP-injections to the inferior
olive from the ventral side. We have no experience of the ventral approach but
we hope we will succeed to obtain clear evidence of cells of origin of the
olivary afferents. Probably in May we will inject labeled amino acids into the
caudate nucleus to make sure if there is a direct caudateolivary projection.
This is our future plan before summer. In this situation, I will concentrate
myself on the work of the olivocerebellar projection from April, writing both
the original and the review article. I will do my best. I sincerely hope that
you will finish the new edition of your text-book before October 1st, since I
was informed a few days ago that I will be given the fellowship in 1978. I am
sure that I can stay in Oslo for 3 months again, since only official
(bureaucratic) business remains now.
I hope that you received a copy of a paper of Oka and Jinnai. I sent it to you a
few days ago together with my papers. In case I could have enough time, and if I
could have some chance, I am thinking of writing a paper in English about the
association fibers of the association cortex in future, probably after two
years. Until then we will obtain our own data of association fibers in monkeys.
I am thinking of writing a letter to Per. I hope he had a successful, happy stay
in Oxford and now working well in the institute.
I am sorry that I brought with me two of your reprints which I had borrowed from
you last year: one is Scheibel and Scheibel (1955), the other is Kemp and Powell
(1971). I return them to you, under separate cover, together with our
tectoreticular paper.
Takako, Yoko and I send our best regards to Inger and you as well as to Per’s
family.
With best wishes,
Yours,
Koki
(Koki Kawamura)
78-4
KK/yk
Professor Alf Brodal
Anatomical Institute
University of Oslo
Karl Johans gate 47
Oslo 1, Norway 12 May 1978
Dear Alf,
Time indeed flies like an arrow. I hope your work on the textbook is well
progressing. As for me, I have been a bit lingering on works other than the
cerebellar jobs. But now they have been almost finished. Papers of my colleague
Konno (Corticotectal projections, Fink and Heimer study), Chiba (Corticopontine
projections, Fink and Heimer study) and of myself together with them (Tectopontine
and Tectoreticular neurons, HRP study) have been sent to the editors of Anatomy
and Embryology (To Fred), Journal fur Hirnforschung (To Fred) and to
Neuroscience Letters (To Graybiel), respectively. The manuscripts of the three
papers were sent to you a few days ago. I hope you will find them positive and
interesting. Two other papers of the HRP-studies: corticopontine neurons
(Kawamura and Chiba) and corticotectal neurons (Kawamura and Konno) have been
written up and now almost ready for submitting. I would be most grateful to you
if you could look through the manuscripts of the last two papers before I send
them, say, to the Exp. Brain Research. May I ask your kind favour for this, Alf?
In addition, I am happy to inform you that the revised version of the
manuscript: tectoreticular cells’ origin, has been accept for publication in the
J. comparative Neurology. I think I have sent this manuscript to you before,
haven’t I?
Although I have duties for doing dissection with students in the afternoon of
every day, now I have enough time to ponder upon the cerebellum. I will do my
best in this field, and sure to produce something sensible and new before I
visit Oslo again! As I wrote you in my last letter, I have got the fellowship
from Japan Society for the Promotion of Sciences (JSPS). I am exciting and very
happy to think of the coming visit and to start review writing with you on the
olivocerebellar projections. Could you please tell me if it is all right for you
that I will arrive at Oslo again in the beginning of October?
In order to obtain some recent view of pathways for optic and acoustic inputs to
the cerebellum, the general subject of our international joint work and the
grant has been given to me for this work, we realize that we should do further
works on the pontocerebellar projections with the autoradiographic method, the
findings of ours (Morioka side) should closely be compared and correlated with
those of yours (Oslo side) obtained by the horseradish peroxidase method. I know
that this is an another heavy work, but very attractive indeed. We (Hashikawa
and myself) are still continuing experiments of autoradiography injecting
labeled amino acids in the caudal portion of the pons and the nucleus
reticularis tegmenti pontis. I hope and I am sure that, when further findings
are obtained, we will be in very satisfactory situation to think over again the
pontocerebellar projections, morphologically as well as physiologically.
As you will see, this letter was written as a sort of official description, a
copy of which to be submitted to the JSPS. Actually I was suggested from the
Society to apply for the grant (for travel and research expenses) for 1979
(dead-line for the application is the end of May), although the situation is
very difficult, particularly for the applicant of the third year. They say that
it can be only accepted in case when it is judged that it is of high
international significance.
I sincerely ask you to give me a letter, kindly responding to this rather
lengthy letter, containing some “significant” contents, a copy of which could be
used as documents of our mutual scientific correspondence.
Takako was glad and very happy that she heard from Inger. Takako and I send our
warmest greetings to Inger and yourself. I am enclosing our recent pictures. We
will write Inger our personal letter later.
Yours,
Koki
(Koki Kawamura)
78-5
AB/G May 23rd, 1978
Professor Koki Kawamura, M.D.
Department of Anatomy
School of Medicine
Iwate Medical University
Morioka 020
JAPAN
Dear Koki,
Thank you for your letter of March 11th. I am sorry that I am rather late in
replying, but I hope this does not matter. It has been some extremely busy
months recently.
Thank you also for sending me the paper of Oka and Jinnai and the reprints as
well as copy of your manuscript. I have received copies of the three recent
papers you sent me. While speaking of papers, I would like to know if, and in
case where (as well 1. as the exact title) your paper with Hashikawa on the
leucine injections is published. I need this for the reference list to the book,
on which I now finally have concluded the chapter on the cerebellum. It has
become very extensive, and I am glad I am through with it.
While writing this I received your letter of May 12th with the photos, for which
I am very grateful. There are several points to consider.
In the first place, concerning your forthcoming papers on the corticopontine and
corticotectal neurons, I wonder whether these are not treating the same as your
paper with Konno and Chiba (sent to Neuroscience Letters)? Do they bring
additional 2. information? If you like, I could read through them and perhaps
give you some general comments, but I will certainly not have time to work on
them. As you mention, I have got copy of your paper on the tectoreticular
projection previously. I am glad that it has been accepted in the J.C.N.
Then concerning our common project on the olivocerebellar review. I suppose we
will need the three months available to finish this. In the final stage there is
always a lot of things to check, correct, rewrite and delete. (The preliminary
3. reference list you sent me will be useful.) I wonder if you have done any
more leucine injections in the olive, to supplement the findings you had when we
stated with the project? I believe that we should include some data on the
ultrastructure of the olive and try to see if any ideas can be formulated
concerning the synaptic machinery. And then we still have most of the
neurophysiology to consider seriously.
I still have chapter X, XII, half of IV and part of XI to finish. And there is
the preparation of figures, references, index etc. I am rather sceptical about
being able to complete it all before October 1st 1978. Would it be in any way
possible that your visit 4. is postponed for one or two months? When working on
a review like this, one should be able to concentrate on this only.
I am not quite clear about what you write in your letter concerning future
plans. I have the impression that when you refer to pathways for optic and
acoustic inputs to the cerebellum, this is the title for the project for which
you will apply for support for the next period (1979). As you will know, in
publications from our lab. studies of the pontine projection to almost all parts
of the cerebellum have now been completed. Per is at present working on the
projections to crusⅠandⅡ. It will be natural to consider these in relation to
what you find autoradiographically. This will certainly be interesting. However,
it will be very important to have combined experiments on afferents and
efferents to make valuable conclusions. Per is at present starting to do some
such experiments (HRP in the cerebellum, lesions in Fink-Heimer in the cortex).
It will take some time before the results are clear.
5. I am, as I said, not quite clear about your plans. If you suggest that we
should cooperate on the subject you outlined, it would probably again have to be
on a review basis, since the experiments will have to be done in advance (three
months are like nothing for doing experiments in most cases). If you apply for a
grant for a collaboration on this basis, I am sorry that I cannot see how I
could participate. My
own connection with the pontocerebellar projection with HRP concerns only the
projection to the uvula (with Grethe, appearing in Exp. Brain Res. soon). And
when I have finished the book and our review, and the proofreading which
follows, I plan to get down to some personal research and to be less pressed
with work than I have been for the last two years.
6. If it will be of any use to you I can of course write a letter to your
society to assure them that your project is of great interest, but I suppose
this will not help very much in itself. I am not quite clear about how you plan
to tackle the problem. The society will probably require a detailed and concrete
plan.
I hope to hear from you concerning the problems discussed above.
With kind regards to you all,
Yours,
Alf
A. Brodal
78-6
KK/yk
Professor Alf Brodal
Anatomical Institute
University of Oslo
Karl Johans gate 47
Oslo 1, Norway 9 June 1978
Dear Alf,
Thank you very much for your letter of May 23rd. I am glad to hear that all is
going well with your plan. I only ask you with slight hesitation to take the
best care of yourself, particularly for the smoke and over-works, since I know
that you don’t like such “meaningless” attentions. I will write below in this
letter responding to your questions and comments 1 ~ 6 raised in your letter.
1. The title of K. Kawamura and T. Hashikawa will be “Olivocerebellar
projections in the cat studied by means of anterograde axonal transport of
labeled amino acids as tracers”. I am very sorry that the manuscript is not
written up yet. We are at present checking again if there is some indications of
olivocerebellar terminals in cases of very small injections (30 ? 60 nl, 0.6 ?
1.2 μCi) of amino acids which we previously judged as negative. We have again
tried dipping the same sections in emulsion and now they are ready for examining
under the microscope. We will finish writing the paper before August.
2. Our paper (with Konno and Chiba) sent to Neuroscience letters has been
accepted for publications. Our forth-coming 2 papers on the cortico-pontine and
the corticotectal neurons, containing some new informations, are almost ready
for submitting. I will send copies of the manuscripts, under separate mail,
asking your comments and corrections. I am very grateful for your kindness.
3. I agree that three-months is not long enough to finish the review work. I
will take more time to study the neurophysiology and ultrastructure of the
olive. We have not done further experiments on olivocerebellar projections,
however, we are thinking that we will inject a large amount of amino acids in
the entire olive. We have found recently clearly labeled cells in the caudalmost
portion of the caudate nucleus following injection of HRP (0.6 μl) which stained
the entire olive as well as the RF. We plan to confirm this autoradiographically.
4. It is all right, and also convenient for me that I will visit you in the
middle of November or in the beginning of December. May be the middle of
November is better. I am happy, and ready, to follow your advice.
5 and 6. I understand what you have written. I am very sorry that I may not have
informed you correctly concerning the title which I have been given the grant
from the Society (JSPS) from 1977. Actually, the title for 1977 was the
olivocerebellar projections. However, since I was suggested from the JSPS to
make the subject for rather general (and extensive) one, I decided afterwards to
include the pontocerebellar projections as well as afferents to the
“precerebellar nuclei” (to the pons from the SC, to the RF from the SC ? which
we have published ? etc). And hence the title was written as “Pathways from
optic and acoustic inputs to the cerebellum” from 1977. These papers are not
necessarily to be published as joint works, although it is desirable to publish
jointly either in form of original papers or review articles.
Having read your letter, honestly speaking, I have a strong feeling that I could
be given an opportunity to communicate our pontocerebellar findings of HRP and
autoradiography (ARG), and to have chance to discuss with Per on this system in
1979, if I could obtain the grant. We will soon get some new data on the
pontocerebellar fibers including the N.r.t. and I would be happy and very
grateful if Per would agree to exchange his HRP data of crusⅠandⅡwith ours of
ARG which would be very useful for both of us when we write original papers. I
would be happy to hear Per’s and /or your opinion(s) concerning this. We wish to
tackle this problem from this autumn in parallel with the olivocerebellar work.
With my very best wishes and warm greetings to Inger and Per from three of us.
Yours
Koki
(Koki Kawamura)
78-7
KK/yk
Professor Alf Brodal
Anatomical Institute
University of Oslo
Karl Johans gate 47
Oslo 1, Norway 11 July 1978
Dear Alf,
We are writing a paper of the olivocerebellar projection (autoradiography) which
will be finished in summer. We will send you a copy of the manuscript before we
send it, perhaps, to Experimental Brain Research. Enclosed you will find two
figures made recently which will be included in the paper.
After the neurobiology meeting in Schatzalp/Davos in Switzerland, held 11- 15
September, 1978, I would like to visit and see you in Oslo, staying just one or
two days, if possible. Could you please tell me if I could see you in Oslo after
16th, or maybe after 18th, of September? For accommodation, I asked Fred if I
could stay in the institute.
Recently, I have got an informal information from the JSPS that I will not be
given the grant for 1979. There were so many new applicants. Therefore, I take
my visit of this year is the last chance of our official joint work under your
guidance. I will do my best as your co-worker. Please tell me when is the best
of my visiting for us. If you think the middle of November is all right, I would
like to ask you a favour of reserving a room for three months in Kringsa. I will
visit alone this time. If possible, I want to live in a single room with a
kitchen inside.
I wish I could hear from you concerning our two manuscripts of HRP studies with
Konno (corticotectal cells) and Chiba (corticopontine cells).
Warm greetings from Takako and me to Inger and you.
Yours,
(Koki Kawamura)
78-8
KK/yk
Professor and Mrs. Alf Brodal
Prestasen 14,
1310 Blommenholm
Baerum, Norway
13 July 1978
Dear Alf,
I have just received a letter from Per and knew that “you have not been quite
well for a while…… and that it may be difficult to get your textbook finished
before January, 1979”.
Although I wrote you a letter, addressed to the institute, two days ago, I took
a pen again to let you know concerning my Oslo-visit for the review-work. I
always feel deep gratitude for that you have considered me as a fellow-coworker
in this heavy, but happy and important work. I am quite all right that I visit
you in January. It may be better for me also since I will get more knowledge
about the cerebellum. I gladly follow your advice. In addition, I would say that
I am very happy to help your work, if I can, with the textbook: reference check,
final editing etc., when the job is not completely finished in January.
Takako and I ask you sincerely that you take the best care of yourself, please,
and we send our best regards and kindest greetings to Inger and to yourself.
Yours,
(Koki Kawamura)
P.S.
When I could get back our HRP-papers (corticopontine and corticotectal neurons)
with your comments and revisions, please let me know whether you give us
permission to acknowledge you.
78-9
July 17, 1978
Dear Koki,
Thank you for your recent letters. I had planned to write you after I received
your first letter, but before I got down to do it I had another small stroke on
June 26, this time obviously in the territory of the vertebral artery. A sudden
severe dizziness, strange sounds in my right ear and paraesthesias in the right
half of the body. The condition has improved considerably, but there is still
some dizziness, and there is a permanent analgesia and thermanaesthisia in the
right leg, a little in the right arm. However, the parts of the brain above the
mesencephalon appear to function OK, although I fear, somewhat more slowly than
before. At present, I manage only to work a few hours a day, but I hope this
will improve. I have been advised by my doctor friends who have taken care of me
(I spent three days in the Medical Department of Ulleval hospital after the
stroke), to slow down take it more easy. I will try, but it is not easy to
change one’s style of life. Anyhow, this means that my work on the book advances
rather slowly.
I am glad to hear, therefore, that you may postpone your visit and our joint
work on the olive until January 1979. Let us see how work proceeds, and when I
see the end of the work of the book I will let you know when we can start. It
will, I believe, be necessary that I have finished this before we embark on a
completion of the review. There are as you know, still some aspects on which we
have not yet started such as electro microscopic data, and physiology. If you
can manage to put together some data on this before we start again, I think this
would be advantage.
As concerns your papers of studies with the HRP-method, I have not managed to go
though them before I fell ill. I am afraid it might take too long now before I
will be able to do so, so I suggest you send these to the publishers without my
going though this. I am sorry that I did not manage to correct these before I
got ill, but I had hoped to start on these about that time. Alas, fate had often
plans! At present I better try to slow down, I think. It is impossible to know
when the next vascular accident will come. Tomorrow or in 5 years?
I hope you, Takako and Yoko are well, and that you got time to do some research.
It seemed from your previous letter that you have a lot of projects going. I
would advice you not to have too many studies running simultaneously. It is my
experience, at least, that one then runs the risk that not any if there are
sufficiently carefully made. And in the long run, it is the quality and not the
quantity of a researcher’s work that counts.
Inger sends her vest regards to all three of you, as does also
Yours,
Alf
78-10
KK/yk
Professor Alf Brodal
Anatomical Institute
University of Oslo
Karl Johans gate 47
Oslo 1, Norway 29 July 1978
Dear Alf,
Thank you very much for your kind letter of July 17th. However, I feel sad to
hear that you had another stroke. Please do take the best care of yourself,
following advices of your home doctor, dear Inger. Takako and I sincerely hope
that your condition will improve. I can understand well the situation you have
had, many and probably over-works on researches, the review article and the
textbook. Allow me to say like this: we all scientists do need at the present
time your products in many respects, simultaneously eager to be benefited for
long years to come though your warm and critical attitude. I ask you to take
time to finish the textbook and tell me in due time when you think I should
visit Oslo for the review work.
As for me, I am engaged in the original paper of the olivocerebellar projection
with Hashikawa. Before the end of August, it will be finished. And then I will
participate in the Neuroscience meetings in Florence (5?8, September) and in
Schatzalp/Davos (11?15, September). At the same time I will concentrate in the
review work, particularly in points you mentioned and adviced me to do in your
letter.
In the meantime, probably after I returned from my Europe trip, I will revise
two HRP-papers with Konno and Chiba, which will be finished before October. I
fully understood the situation that you could not read though our manuscripts. I
only feel that, if possible, I would like to hear from you, or Per or Fred about
general comments on the two papers.
Thank you again for your very kind and precious advice on research works, “do
not have too many studies running simultaneously……” I agree and follow your
advice.
I do hope you will get well soon and Inger is all right. Takako, Yoko and I send
our warmest greetings and best wishes,
Yours,
(Koki Kawamura)
78-11
Sept 9th 1978
Thank you for your kind letter of July 29th. It was indeed unfortunate that I
should get a renewed stroke now, although it is not so severe. I am gradually
improving, although particularly I am still troubled by dizziness. But my
physical capacity is not so very much damaged. What is most annoying is that my
mental working capacity is markedly reduced, and I get tired after 2-3 hours of
work. I hope this will improve, because work with the book, my only professional
work at present, is going slowly on account of this.
We have spent most of our time this summer at Blommenholm, with only some days
now and then to visit friends. At present we are spending a week down at the
South Coast in a cottage.
I am happy to hear from you that your visit to Oslo is not necessarily fixed to
a certain time, because it is still scarcely possible to see when the work with
the book will be finished. I hope both for your and my own sake that this will
be about Christmas, but it is impossible to tell. In any case I will have to
slow down considerably, but I will keep you informed of the situation.
I realize that just three days you have been in Firenze. I hope the meeting has
been a good one, and that the same will be the case with the meeting in
Switzerland.
I am sorry that I did not manage to go through your papers with Konno and Chiba,
it would have been too strenuous for me in my present condition. I am looking
forward to resuming our work on the olive, if nothing particular happens.
Please give my best regards to Yoko and Takako. Inger sends her very best wishes
for you all three.
With kind regards,
Yours,
Alf
78-12
Professor and Mrs. Alf Brodal
Prestasen 14
1310 Blommenholm
Bearum, Norway
5 October 1978
Dear Inger and Alf,
Thank you very much for your kind letter of September 9th. I was happy when I
talked with you by phone from Leiden; I could see that your physical condition
has considerably recovered. But please take the best care of yourself. I
sincerely hope that you will finish your work with the text-book successfully,
and please let me know in due time concerning my visit. Decision of the date of
my visiting is rather flexible in the beginning of the next year.
I found the meetings, followed by the journey, in Europe very positive, I will
write about “academic” affairs in the next mail. Sorry I have to leave my office
now.
With our warmest greetings from Takako, Yoko and Koki.
(Koki Kawamura)
78-13
KK/yk
Professor Alf Brodal
Anatomical Institute
University of Oslo
Karl Johans gate 47
Oslo 1, Norway 27 November 1978
Dear Alf,
I do hope that your work with the text-book is well progressing as you scheduled
in your restored physical conditions. A few days ago, I was asked on the
telephone by Japan Society for the Promotion of Sciences (JSPS) concerning the
date of my visiting Oslo. I told them that it will be about the middle or the
end of January and that the date will hopefully be informed by Christmas. I
wonder if you could tell me about the possibility of my visit in January. I am
sorry if this presses you.
Under separate cover, I sent you the manuscript of “olivocerebellar fibers” with
Hashikawa, together with our recent papers. We looked though the sections of the
olive and the cerebellum again and examined the findings in more detail.
Therefore, you will find a small changes in data from the previous one which I
showed you last year. The manuscript has turned out to be rather big (about 26
printed pages or more). Originally, it was intended to Exp. Brain Research
which, however, does not normally accept articles more than 16 pages. A charge
of $60.00 for each page in excess of 16 in Brain Research is terrible, but can
be suitable. If J. Comp. Neurol. will accept the paper even after those of
Groenewegen and Voogd, we would be very happy. We would ask you to give us a
favour of your critical reading and correction in the manuscript. We would be
grateful to hear what you think about the journal to be submitted. At present,
we are thinking to send it to Brain Research, after your kind correction.
I am very grateful for your kind advice not to do many works simultaneously in
order to do a good work. I am sorry, but I have had to work with my young
colleagues in several fields these two years. Although the quality of the papers
may not be satisfactory, I am happy to send you each copy of five manuscripts
(some are somewhat dirty, sorry) separately.
Enclosed you will find some pictures I took last year. I should have printed
them earlier! Takako, Yoko and I, recalling the pleasant days, send kindest
wishes to Inger and yourself.
Encl.: photos Yours,
Koki
Five manuscripts:
1. Chiba 2. KW and Chiba 3. Konno 4. KW and Konno 5. Sugiyama
78-14
AB/G December 12th, 1978
Professor Koki Kawamura
Department of Anatomy
School of Medicine
Iwate Medical University
Morioka 020
JAPAN
Dear Koki:
Thank you for your recent letter and for sending me copies of the most recent
papers of you and your collaborators. I have looked through them with interest.
As to your paper with Hashikawa on the olivocerebellar projection I have read it
very carefully and have some particular comments.
Summary, Introduction and Methods: mainly minor linguistic changes, as noted on
the manuscript. Some methodological points should be mentioned, I believe (P.5).
Some slight changes are suggested in Results.
My main comments concern the Discussion. It is, of course, difficult to discuss
these problems properly, and I hope you will find my following comments just.
In the Discussion you often say that degeneration in lobulus so and so is due to
involvement of a particular part of the olive, in cases where more than one
subdivision is affected, or that it confirms previous findings. Strictly
speaking, it is permissible only to state that your findings are in agreement
with, or compatible with, or not incompatible with, other findings. Only in
cases where the injection covers a particular olivary area, 56L, 64L and 63L, is
it possible to draw definite conclusions concerning relations between olivary
regions and sagittal zones and to use the expression confirm. I think you should
express yourself somewhat more carefully on this point, even if it is very
probable that you are right. I wonder if you do sufficient justice to
Groenewegen and Voogd, for example, they should have been referred to on p.17
(as well as in other places).
On the whole, on almost all points your results are in very good agreement with
Groenewegen and Voogd. I wonder if it would be an advantage (and also make the
manuscript shorter) if you in the Discussion concentrated more on those findings
which are new, and only referred briefly to the other findings corresponding to
those presented by Voogd et al., for example in their diagrams. Thus, an
interesting point is the presence of a zone B in the paramedian lobule, as you
mention on p.18. Concerning the correspondence between HRP findings and your
data the projection from the caudal MAO is another point of interest where a
correlation can be made. What about flocculo-parafloccular projections?
As to the second part of the Discussion from p.25 ? 31 I think this could be
condensed to just a few lines, with reference to its being considered
extensively in other papers (for example Groenewgen and Voogd). As it is, it is
not sufficiently detailed as to sites of termination of afferents and origin of
efferents to bring much new.
In the Summary you mention that there are free zones between the strips, and
this is obvious from your figures. Does it deserve some comments (cp. Chan-Palay)?
Concerning the illustrations I have some comments. The dots in Fig.3 and 4
appear to be too densely spaced so that they will probably fuse in the
reproduction, as they have done in the print I got. Likewise, in Fig.7, for
example, the lines indicating climbing fibers have in part fused to a black
zone. The drawings of Figs.6 and 8 are very nice, but to some extent they
duplicate data from other figures. Would it be feasible to select some of them
to go with the olive and cerebellum in Figs.5 and 7? To save space and
facilitate acception?
I hope these comments and my linguistic and other corrections may be of some
help to you. Of course, if you prefer and find it best, you should publish the
Discussion as it is. Since we are publishing our joint review, hopefully in the
spring, I would prefer that you do not add any acknowledgment to me,
particularly since I have only corrected the manus. I suppose Brain Research
might be just as well as J. Comp. Neurol. In the latter they have a very long
delay at present.
Now, as concerns our future work with the review, I am afraid that I cannot
count on being finished with the main part of my work on the book until the end
of February 1979. As I can see it now, 1st of March is the earliest date we can
tentatively fix. I hope we could then be able to finish the job, and it would be
fine if you in the meantime could manage to put together the data on the finer
structure of the olive, which we have so far considered rather loosely. But
certainly there will be very much to do before we are able to finish that task,
even if much has been done. It is quite clear, however, that I will not be able
to go on with the speed of last time.
Leaving business matters, I would like to thank you for the pictures you sent,
which reminded us of a time, which for me now, seems very far away. We have had
a very nice November this year, but now we have ÷10 - 12oC every day, and people
are busy with Xmas preparations. Inger sends her best wishes to all of you, as
does also
Yours,
Alf
A. Brodal
P.S. The manuscript is returned separately as registered mail.
78-15
KK/yk
Professor Alf Brodal
Anatomical Institute
University of Oslo
Karl Johans gate 47
Oslo 1, Norway 26 December 1978
Dear Alf,
Thank you for your kind letter of December 12th and for your critical comments
and corrections in the manuscript. Guided by your comments, we are improving the
manuscript and figures. It will be sent to Brain Research or Neurosciences. We
have almost written up a draft of the pontocerebellar paper (autoradiography),
too. I will do the rewriting during Christmas holidays. I wonder if you could
kindly take your time to read through the manuscript before submission. I hope,
and wish, I can finish the paper without so much delay.
I have talked with people in the Society (JSPS) concerning the date of my
visiting Oslo, since I received your letter. As you might know our fiscal year
ends in March. Originally, they insisted that more than half of my working
period in Oslo should be included in the present fiscal year. They are
bureaucratic. After my request, they apparently have consented that they will
support my travel and staying expenses for March, April and May. I am very sorry
if I might press you, but, I should be very grateful if you could understand me
that I would visit Oslo on 1st of March. I will do my best in the olive even if
you are still engaged in your text-book in March. I would be very happy to be an
assistant of your work on the book as well.
Warmest greetings of Christmas and New Year from Takako and me to Inger and you.
Yours,
(Koki Kawamura)