On the structure and development of connective substances / by Thomas E. Satterthwaite.

  • Satterthwaite, Thomas E. (Thomas Edward), 1843-1934.
Date:
1876
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the structure and development of connective substances / by Thomas E. Satterthwaite. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    fact that there is apt to be great confusion in the use of the word cell, for it may often be shown that the so-called spindle cells—by which are here meant some of the larger figures embraced under that name—are often not such at all. A good lens shows that the so-called spindle cell may be a thin ribbon-like portion of the intercellular substance that we have learned to know, upon which is the flattened corpuscle, itself surrounded by a more or less delicate investment, gen- erally of a hyaline material. The gold method brings out these points in great perfection. Further proof in support of this statement may be gained by pressing such a spindle cell between the cover and the slide in the way already men- tioned. The nucleus, or flattened corpuscle, may then be made to drop off. The valuable results that follow from recognizing these points are, that they at once give us an in- sight into the structure of the so-called spindle celled sarco- mata or fibro-recurrent tumors which are formed of a tissue very similar to some of the connective substances already mentioned, for in describing them the very same error has often been committed as in calling the plate-like cells spindle- shaped. Any one who examines such a tumor in the way just described will have no great difficulty in demonstrating to himself that the so-called nuclei of the spindle cells are, in reality, very similar both in form and size to the plate-like corpuscles already described in the umbilical cord. These facts were elicited from the study of such a sarcoma, whose character was definitely established by its microscopical char- acter and its frequent recurrence (five times). The younger portions were known to be such by the description given of them by the patient, for, the tumors being nodular, the age of each nodule was pretty nearly established. In the young portions the same plate-like bodies as are found in the um- bilical cord, or bodies at least in general very similar, were found, but they were imbedded at intervals in a homogeneous material in which as yet there was no fibrillation. This por- tion was actually a young growth. Older portions were then examined, i. e., those known clinically to be older. It was then found that the intercellular substance had a hbrillated ap- pearance and by suitable reagents it could be broken up into