Mammary variations per defectum / by W. Roger Williams.

  • Williams, William Roger, 1854-1948.
Date:
[1891]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Mammary variations per defectum / by W. Roger Williams. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    limited to the genital organs. The clitoris was very large— quite as large as in many competent males. The corpora caver- nosa were large; there was a bulb to the urethra, a rudimentary prostate, and rudimentary ejaculatores seminis. In addition there was a rudimentary uterus and vagina—the latter ending in the urethra. Nothing is said about ovaries or testes. Complete absence of one breast is only a little less rare than that of both. Several authors have stated (contrary to what happens in polymazia) that the right breast is the one more frequently affected. I am unable to support this statement; for, as will be seen below, in most of the cases collected by me the defor- mity was on the left side. It is alleged sometimes to occur independently of any other deformity. Birkett ^ cites a case (Marandel’s) of this kind; but, on looking up his reference,^ I found the record so meagre and unsatisfactory that I was unable to determine whether there was associated deficiency of the pectoral muscles or not. In the following cases unilateral amazia was correlated with malformation of the adjacent chest wall:— 1. In a woman,^ aged 30, who died of peritonitis eight days after her confinement, there was found in place of the K. breast a shallow depression ; but no trace of the nipple, areola, or gland. Beneath the skin there was nothing but a thin layer of adipose tissue. The L. breast was well developed and full of milk. The anterior parts of the 3rd and 4th ribs were absent, together with the corresponding intercostal muscles, the sternal part of the pectoralis major muscle, the whole of the pectoralis minor, and portions of the serratus magnus. The gap was closed in by tough aponeurosis. The pleura and lung were normal. 2. Here the patient was a healthy-looking girl,^ 5 years old, whose parents also were healthy and free from any defor- mity. Of the R. mamma, nipple, and areola there was no trace ; the skin over this region was like that of the rest of the body. The pectoralis major and minor muscles were deficient, as well as the anterior part of the 4th rib and the adjacent ^ Diseases of the Breast, 1850, p. 23. * Diet, des Sei. M4d., t. xxx. p, 378. ® Froriep, Neue Notizen, Bd. x., 1839, s. 9. * Reid, Froriep's Feue Notizen, No. 500, Bd. xxiii., 1842, s. 254.
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