Clinical lectures on diseases of bone / by C. Macnamara.

  • Macnamara, Nottidge Charles, 1832-1918.
Date:
1878
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Clinical lectures on diseases of bone / by C. Macnamara. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    to ANA TO MY OF MEDULLA OF BONE. [I- the long bones contain a network of adenoid or cytogenic tissue, continuous with that of the endos- teum, its meshes being filled with a vast number of corpuscles which histologically, as well as function- ally, resemble those contained in the spleen. In foetal, and in fact in all bones until about the fifteenth year of age, the marrow is of a deep red colour, and it continues so in the bones of the trunk and cranium, while in those of the limbs large quantities of fat cells appear in the meshes of the adenoid tissue and the medulla consequently becomes of a yellow colour. Authorities hold that this plexus of adenoid tissue is the commencement of the lymphatics in bones. It seems to me that in the medullary canal the evidence in favour of this view is strong, and I think we may yet demon- strate the existence of lymphatic structures in this situation, but however this may be, we certainly find that the Haversian canals and the spaces in the cancellated structure of bone contain a network of adenoid tissue in addition to their vessels, and these structures play an important part in inflam- matory and other abnormal processes going on in the interior of the long bones. If we examine these sections of the articular surface of the tibia which have been rendered transparent by glycerine, we shall be able to comprehend the anatomy of the cancellated struc- tures immediately beneath the articular cartilages. The soft materials filling the cancelli project down to within about the o*io of a line of the attached