On the origin, structure, and mode of development of the cystic tumours of the ovary / by Wilson Fox.

  • Fox, Wilson.
Date:
1864
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the origin, structure, and mode of development of the cystic tumours of the ovary / by Wilson Fox. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Wilks (1 o.), either express themselves as unable to account for their origin, or give no further account of the process. Many of the more definite theories which have been brought forward to account for these formations, appear to be hypothetical applications to the cysts of the ovaries of more general views entertained by their authors on the sub- ject of cystic growths, but some of them are of sufficient importance to deserve especial notice. (a) That which has perhaps attracted the most attention in later years has been the opinion which has attributed the formation of cysts to a development from single cells (< Independent and Primary Anatomical Elements, Roki- tansky),- by a process consisting in the enlargement ot the cell, which, receiving a fibrous investment externally, then remains either a hollow cavity, or has a secondary formation of cells in its interior, which give rise to colloid substances by their metamorphosis. This view, supported as it has been by some of the most illustrious observers and philosophers in pathological science, has obtained a dignity among the theories of pathology which renders any detailed criticism impossible within the limits of this paper. Propounded originally by Dr. Hodgkin m relation to the ovary, it has further, in regard to these tumours, received the support of Mr. Paget2 and Professor Scanzoni,3 while by Mr. Simon4 and Rokitansky,5 it has been held to explain the cystic formations in the kidney, and to it also has been attributed by Frerichs (1. c.) and Roki- tansky6 the origin of cysts in the thyroid gland. It must be enough for me in this place to indicate that in many of the organs in which it was held to explain the origin of cystiform structures of new formation, other and ' simpler modes -of development from pre-existing structures have been discovered. Thus, of the kidney it may at least 1 'Med.-Chir. Trans.,' vol. xxvi. 2 L. c. ' L. c, p. 360. * ' Med.-Chir. Trans.,5 xxx. 6 1 Ueber der Kyste,' p. 3, Zur Anatomie des Kiopfes ;' and ' Path. Anat.,' ud. 1855, part i.