On the nature and primary changes of cancerous exudations, and on the development of fibrous structure in cancerous formadtions : with remartks on the diagnosis of turmours of the neck / by P. Redfern.

  • Redfern, Peter, 1821-1912.
Date:
1850
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the nature and primary changes of cancerous exudations, and on the development of fibrous structure in cancerous formadtions : with remartks on the diagnosis of turmours of the neck / by P. Redfern. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    to it in some way unknown to us, exert its peculiar elective force upon the same blood as supplies other parts with materials for the formation of healthy tissue. The following appear among the desiderata for the perfection of our knowledge of the anatomy and pathology of cancerous growths, viz., to ascertain whether fibres exist in all cancers, and are really essential for the completion of a structure, the attendant phenomena of which shall be indistinguishable from those of cancers in general. And, whether the fibrous tissue of cancerous formations bears any constant proportion in its amount to the fibrous character of the or¬ gans in which these are developed, and is regulated by the law of analogous formations. These inquiries cannot be satisfactorily answered, otherwise than by numerous and accurate microscopical examinations of the textures of organs so affected, and especially of cancers which occur in parts that contain no fibrous tissue whatever in their normal state, and in such as contain so small a proportion of it that an increase in its quantity may readily be detected. The particulars of a case in -which secondary cancer of the brain occurred will be here given; and as cases of this kind are excessively rare, and no other microscopical examination of the structure of such cancers is on record, as far as I am aware, it is to be hoped that those into whose hands other cases may fall will take especial care that their characters be accurately recorded, bearing in mind that a particular density of structure is by no means a necessary attendant on a cancer possessed of a certain amount of fibrous tissue,—and that this is, consequently, a character of little service in the solution of the question proposed. In another case, it will be shown that several ounces of a fluid blastema, of the characters of liquor san¬ guinis, were effused into the centre of a large cancerous tumour,— that the fluid was speedily reproduced after evacuation, and that, in a few weeks, the whole was converted into a creamy cancerous liquid—having thus become completely changed in its chemical and structural characters. This case is also of importance in connection with the diagnosis of tumours of the neck and diseases of the thyroid body, which will be further illustrated by a case of cystic tumours in the position of the thyroid. Observation I.—Cancer of the Liver, Brain, Kidney, and of every other organ except the Heart; Cancerous deposits in the Right Psoas Muscle, on the trans¬ verse processes of the Lumbar Vertebrae, and on the Right Ilium and Femur; Tubercle and Cicatrices at the Apex of both Lungs; Granular Degeneration of both Kidneys; Anormal Nutritive Changes in the Cartilages of the Articu¬ lating Processes of the Lumbar and Dorsal Vertebrae, and in many of those of the larger Joints; Epileptic Convulsions; Partial Paralysis ; Death. Case.—The patient was a widow, set. 48, who had a son when very young, and before her marriage, but no children afterwards. She gained her liveli¬ hood by carrying large baskets of fish to the country, and by selling dulse (Rhodomenia Palmata), which she herself pulled, standing in a considerable depth of water. The following account of her history and symptoms was obtained from a very