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.

    52/568 (page 32)
    and to the ethmoid bone. It weighed 10^ ounces in the recent state, and was covered with a thin membrane resembling that of the nasal passages and having several polypoid growths attached to it. It is composed of two distinct and loosely connected parts—a superficial hard ivory exostosis, varying in thickness from half an inch to one and a half or two inches ; and a deep, more vascular bony tissue, resembling that of the lower end of the femur, but more condensed and heavier. These two portions were united in some places by a loose cartilaginous tissue. The microscopical exa¬ mination plainly indicated the development of bony tissue by ossification of the deeper stratum of the periosteum ; while the spongy tissue appeared to form by rarefaction of the hard bone. From a man, aged 21, otherwise healthy. He first noticed a swelling at the inner side of the eye twelve years before operation. It gradually increased for six or seven years, but since then had made no progress. The tumour was of bony hardness and invaded the nostrils completely. The eyeball, though much displaced, had tolerably perfect movements and sight wTas hut little impaired. The roof of the mouth and pharynx were not implicated. The tumour was removed with but little loss of blood, and the patient went on well till the third day, when he suddenly became faint and died. The brain and its membranes were healthy; two bony tumours or prominences were found lying in the middle and anterior fossae of the base of the skull. The larger grew from the left side of the body of the sphenoid and was of the size and shape of a walnut. The other, smaller, was situated at the inner end of the lesser wing of the sphenoid and immediately above the optic nerve. (See Trans. Path. Soc. vol. xix. p. 310.) Presented by Sir William Fergusson, 1867. 2214. A tumour which involves the whole thickness of the right half of the body of the lower jaw. Two molar teeth are imbedded in its upper margin. It is partly fibrous and partly osseous. On microscopical examination the bone was found to be immature, its lacunae large, but their canaliculi difficult of detection. The tumour had been growing for four years before operation. Fifteen years before it was removed, another tumour had been ex¬ cised from the same spot. (See MS. Notes, vol. i. p. 453.) Presented by Sir William Fergusson, 1872,