A manual of the practice of surgery / by W. Failie Clarke.

  • Clarke, W. Fairlie (William Fairlie), 1833-1884.
Date:
[1882], ©1882
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A manual of the practice of surgery / by W. Failie Clarke. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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    growth. A cancer diifers from every other tissue which is met with in the body, not so much in its histological elements, as in their arrangement. A fatty tumour is merely excessive in its growth ; the material of which it is composed is identical with the ordinary adipose tissue. Tumours have long been divided into two great classes—the non- malignant (innocent, benign), and the malignant or cancerous. To these it has been found necessary to add a third class, the semi- malignant or recurrent. This is not perhaps a very scientific classification, but it is one of great practical value. The non-malignant or innocent tumours may be regarded as being from first to last local diseases. They may often be traced to purely local causes. When they are solid, their structure resembles some one of the normal tissues of the body—they are homologous. Moreover, they only grow in situations where such tissue is naturally found. They do not invade the adjacent struc- tures. They do not aficct the general health, unless it be accidentally, from their size or position; and when they are once thoroughly removed, they show no tendency to return. Such are the marks of a typical non-malignant tumour. The malignant growths, on the other hand, present a complete contrast in all these pai'ticulars. They seem to depend in some degree upon a constitutional taint or an hereditary predisposition ; though some local imperfection—a cicatrix, a wart, a mole—often serves as their starting point. They are unlike anything that is found among healthy structures—they are heterologous. They penetrate the neighbouring tissues. Thej' impair the general health. They have a tendency to reproduce themselves in various parts of the body, as well as to return after removal. But between these two extremes there is an intermediate class, the cancroid, semi-malignant, or recurrent tumours. This class comprises growths which in their earlier stages resemble the benign, but in their later history present many of the characters of malignancy. The benign and malignant tumours are not separated by any well-marked line. The two groups shade ofi into one another. That infinite variety, which we observe in every department of disease, supplies links which unite the two extreme points of the chain. EHrCYSTED TUMOURS are met with under two forms—(1) Those which consist in the distention and hypertrophy of natural cysts or ducts; and (2) those which result from the enlargement of a primitive cell or of an areolar interspace.