Volume 3

Descriptive catalogue of the pathological specimens contained in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

  • Royal College of Surgeons of England. Museum
Date:
1882-
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Descriptive catalogue of the pathological specimens contained in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    and there were two bodies, not larger than common beans, ad¬ hering to the bladder, and containing a soft cheese-like substance. “ Between the stomach and the spleen, and over one end of the pancreas, there was a large tumour [preserved in No. 2890], to which the three above parts adhered, the stomach and pancreas slightly by cellular membrane, the spleen more intimately, so as to make a part of the tumour : with the spleen it was about ten inches in diameter. It was irregularly shaped, and made up of several smaller tumours. There was considerable variety in the contents of those tumours : iu one there were hydatids of various sizes, like those mentioned above; in another there was a sub¬ stance like isinglass, a little softened in water; in a third there was clear water in a considerable quantity, with very minute particles like small grains adhering slightly to the sides ; and in a fourth there were hydatids, some full, others burst, and with their coats compressed together, and forming the isinglass-like substance. The tumours or sacs had all thick coats, endowed with a strong contractile power that forcibly protruded their con¬ tents through any opening made into them. They had two coats— an outer, which was strongest and thickest, and an inner, which was tender, soft, and pulpy. “As to the structure of the hydatids, it was the samo in large and small—a transparent bag, uniformly round and smooth, filled with clear water. The bag appeared to consist of two coats or layers; for, on handling them, the outer coat would get rumpled, and occasion a degree of opacity, but, by wiping the hydatid, it became again clear and transparent. They appeared to be com¬ pletely spherical. When they were opened, their coats possessed a strong contractile force, so as to roll themselves up in part. On examining a number of hydatids, some of them appeared of an amber colour, and wuth thicker coats than the rest; and when opened their inner surface was found covered with small hyda¬ tids, which were not so large as the heads of pins, and looked like minute pearls or studs set in the inner coat. “ Some of the water containing the small grains mentioned above was examined with a microscope, and found to have floating in it numerous minute hydatids ; of which the largest were the little grains visible to the naked eye, and ^T^th Part °f an in°h in diameter; the smallest were less than a red globule of blood; and they were of all intermediate sizes. The coats of the largest were a little rough, with numerous filaments or villi; and on using a deeper magnifier, they had somewhat of a mulberry ap¬ pearance.” 2371. A portion of a great omentum containing numerous hydatid cysts. They vary in size and in the appearance of the parasites, but the containing cyst in all is tough and has a thick corrugated interior membrane. The hydatids are in two distinct forms. In one, the usual form, shown it 2
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