On the thickness of the articular cartilages at different periods of life in the human subject / by P. Redfern.

  • Redfern, Peter, 1821-1912.
Date:
1854
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the thickness of the articular cartilages at different periods of life in the human subject / by P. Redfern. 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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    Notwithstanding the greater variation which oceurs in the differ- ent, measurements of the thickness of these huge c>n til ages than of others, it will he found that there is nothing, either in these or in the smaller variations, observed in the other instances, noi yet in the whole series of measurements, which will warrant the conclusion that these structures become gradually thinner as life advances, nor even that they are thinner in the aged than in the young person. From a conversation with Mr Toynbee on the statement made in his paper before referred to, I found that bis evidence on this matter had been derived from the observations and statements of others, rather than from measurements or observations of his own, and thus I believe that lie has been thrown off his guard, and made to appear as the author and supporter of a statement which, under other cir- cumstances, his habitual care and anxiety to arrive at the truth, would effectually have prevented from being made in so definite a manner. In conclusion, I may state my conviction, founded on the mea- surements indicated in the table appended, that articular cartilages do not become gradually thinner as life advances, and that they are not uniformly thinner in aged persons than in early life. I may also remark that, in endeavouring to estimate the thickness of articular cartilages at different periods of life, I have had presented to me a large amount of evidence in addition to that which I formerly made public, that, as life advances, these structures, and especially those of certain joints, change their elementary characters, and become fibro-cartilaginous, or altogether fibrous. This change lias its analogues in the conversion of the costal cartilages into bone, of tendons into fibro-cartilage and hone, and in those changes which age induces in the bones generally, in the cornea and other tissues. It may not improperly he styled senile degeneration of cartilage.