Stilling carried out some of the 19^th century’s most detailed and precise examinations of the spinal cord, which “laid the foundation for the modern anatomical study of the spinal cord, medulla oblongata, and pons” (Clarke & O’Malley, p. 834). Stilling was the first to use serial sections to study the spinal cord’s inner structure, slicing frozen or alcohol-hardened cords into thin slices to be studied under the microscope or with the naked eye. In 1859 he published his enormous and detailed Neue Untersuchungen über den Bau des Rückenmarks [New researches on the structure of the spinal cord], containing the results of his seventeen years of study, along with detailed instructions on his methods for preparing both transverse and longitudinal spinal cord sections. The atlas contains some of the most dramatic plates of the spinal cord ever published, including one enormous and highly detailed folding lithograph of a single spinal cord cross-section. The text consists of 1192 pages plus 108 pages of explanations of the 31 plates.
Published from parts from 1856 to 1859.