The present aspect of the doctrine of cellular pathology : a lecture delivered at an evening meeting of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, 27th February 1863 / by William Turner.

  • Turner, Wm. (William), Sir, 1832-1916.
Date:
1863
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The present aspect of the doctrine of cellular pathology : a lecture delivered at an evening meeting of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, 27th February 1863 / by William Turner. 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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    evidently been taken to eliminate errors, not only in tlie obser- vations themselves, but in the conclusions which have been drawn from them, must be regarded as most satisfactory contributions to our knowledge. II. Cancer.—When a cancer is examined microscopically, it is seen to consist essentially of cells and nuclei, embedded in an interstitial substance or stroma. The cells and nuclei constitute the well-known cancer-cells and nuclei, and present forms and appearances which may be regarded as characteristic of the disease. They are evidently new formations. The stroma, again, may con- sist either of the remains of the original texture of the part, as is mostly the case in scirrhus, or it may be, like the cancer-cells between which it is situated, a new formation also. In what man- ner, and from what source, do these new-formed structures arise ? To these questions I think I shall be able satisfactorily to reply, that they arise from changes in the textural elements—the pre- existing cells and nuclei—of the part, and do not spring up spon- taneously by any process of precipitation or aggregation of granules in a stmctureless or granular exudation. In the development of these new-formed cancer-cells, the cor- puscles of the connective tissue play an important, though not an exclusive, part; for I think that I shall be able to advance suf- ficient evidence that the cells and nuclei of others of the textures participate in the process, and this not only in one, but in others of the leading varieties of cancer. There is, indeed, no organ in the body in which the productive changes leading to the development, growth, and extension of cancer can be more exactly studied than the muscles. For the textures of which they are composed can be readily and conveni- ently prepared for microscopic examination, the margins of the muscular fibres can be precisely defined, and the alterations of stracture occurring in them can be noted without much difficulty. In the scapular muscles of the man whose case Mr Syme has related to us this evening I had such excellent opportunities of tracing many of the phenomena attendant on the development and growth of soft cancer in the muscles, that I could not advance a better illustration of the process.^ The cancer had evidently com- menced at the glenoid fossa of the scapula, and had extended from this part backwards on both the dorsal and ventral surfaces of the bone, so as to form a large and well-marked tumour. By its progress, not only was the glenoid fossa and the neck of the scapula softened and destroyed, but the muscular structures on the dorsal and ventral aspects were involved in, and changed by, the disease. It is of the alterations which they displayed that I shall especially speak. The ^ Before the delivery of this Lecture Mr Syme related the case of and exhib- ited a patient, from whom he had excised the whole of the scapula, leaving, however, the arm, for cancerous disease of the scapula and its muscles. See on p. 951.