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THE INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS.
236 THE GROWTH AND SHEDDING OF THE A DISTINGUISHED
ANTLER.
surgeon has followed up his work
growth of bone by a study of the growth and shedding of the antler, of the histological phenomena observed during these processes and their relation to the growth of bone. On the authority of Sir William Flower the statement is made that in the larger species (such as the Irish elk) the weight of the antlers is more than that of all the bones of the skeleton put together.
on
This is not the most remarkable fact about the deciduous antlers of the deer. Not only does enormous growth, " according to plan," of these weighty defensive organs occur within three or four months, but the skin or velvet which covers these often palmate outgrowths, grows pari passu with the bone itself, so that there is complete reproduction of the whole of the cutaneous
THE INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS. THE first move towards a closer relation between workers in physical science dates from March, 1918, when, under the presidency of Professor C. H. Lees, representatives of four societies met to define the lines of future cooperation. These were the Faraday Society, the Optical Society, the Physical Society of London, and the Rontgen Society. Their decision to form an Institute of Physics analogous to the existing Institute of Chemistry took effect, and the Institute was duly incorporated last November. The Royal Microscopical Society has now joined the Institute, and it is anticipated that other societies will follow. A circular has been issued reciting the objects of the Institute and the regulations proposed for the admission of Members, Students, Associates, and Fellows. The two latter groups will use the title A.Inst.P. and F.Inst.P. respectively. The regulations for admission and for professional conduct are based upon those ruling in the sister Institute, and they will doubtless aid in raising the status of the physicist in the public mind alongside of the chemist. All branches of physics are in reality closely inter-related, and nothing but good can come of the amalgamation.
tissues, epithelium, cutis, gland and hairs, blood-vessels,
lymphatics, and nerves with each renewal of the antlers. do this the vessels of the velvet must grow with great rapidity to supply the abundant pabulum necessary for the skin growth, for these vessels have but few connexions with the special set of bloodvessels which supply the rapidly growing bone. The nerves to protect the sensitive growing antlers are outgrowths from the trigeminal nerve. The bony part of the antler is derived from a pedicle projecting from the frontal bone. The rapidity of growth is so great that all phases of bone development by osteoblasts can be found occurring simultaneously in one part or other of a half-grown antler, and the phenomena are, in the main, analogous to those of the growth of bone in other parts of the mammalian skeleton. Even from its earliest growth arrangements are made for the rapid shedding of the antler after it has performed its evanescent purpose. Osteoblasts form ossein which ultimately constricts the internal blood-vessels supplying the growing bone, leading to ischsemic necrosis, and the antler is ultimately shed from the action of the living tissue on the proximal side in the pedicle. Similar arrangements are also made for the shedding of the velvet. At first the larger cutaneous blood-vessels lie in grooves in the antler, but ultimately the excessive growth of bone forming the corona encroaches on them and subsequently obliterates them. The osteoblasts are evolved from pre-existing bone cells or osteoblasts in the pedicle, and Sir William Macewen thinks that the mass production of bone depends not only on normal cell division of the osteoblasts, but is aided by nuclear budding which he has studied and figured. A new and larger antler grows yearly from a single small centre of ossification in the frontal bone, forming a pedicle identical in structure with frontal bone and covered at the beginning of the growing period with cartilage which ossifies from the base upwards. The cartilage grows in advance until the full size of the antler is reached, when its ossification becomes complete. The pedicle once formed is a permanent structure, growing in circumference during subsequent years. The antler first appears during the second year of the animal’s life, when it presents only a single stem. Injury or disease of the pedicle or skull makes corresponding modifications in the growth of the antler. The separation of the antler is primarily due to the withdrawal of its blood-supply, both of the bone and velvet. Obliteration of the superficial vessels in the cutis-velvet takes place at the corona, the edge of the corona presses on and through the cutis, and, as there is no collateral supply from the bone vessels, the whole velvet covering becomes avascular, dries, shrivels, and peels off in shreds, although the growth in the interior of the antler is still active. The separation of the antler from the pedicle is effected also at the level of the corona, the bone gradually becoming avascular, very dense, with complete obliteration of the relatively thinwalled vessels. At the line of separation or shedding " the pedicle becomes very vascular and a granulation tissue" forms and gradually loosens the organic connexions between the pedicle and the dead antler, while
Obviously to
1 The Growth and Shedding of the Antler of the Deer, by William Macewen, F.R.S, Glasgow: Maclehose, Jackson, and Co. 1920. Pp. 109. 10s. 6d.
at the same time the deeper bone cells of the skull and pedicle proliferate, assume the role of osteoblasts, and are ready for fresh effort in producing a new antler. The whole process of shedding of the antler takes place in the open air and aseptically. No mention is made of osteoclasts as agents in the process. Sir William Macewen refers only briefly to the effects of castration on antler growth, and suggests further inquiry in this direction. Nature’s methods of selfamputation, be it by way of autotomy, shedding of an antler, or fall of a leaf, are scientifically perfect and are prototypes of aseptic surgery in its most complete and successful application.
TUBERCULOSIS OF THE LIP1 Dr. Erwin P. Zeisler,l dermatologist to the Cook County Hospital, Chicago, records an example of this rare condition in a man, aged 56, who sought advice for a painful swelling of the lower lip, which had appeared ten months previously. The entire lower lip was uniformly enlarged and indurated with several small areas of denuded epidermis. The inner aspect of the lower lip down to the gingival border showed a superficially ulcerated area, about 2 cm. broad, surrounded by cedematous mucous membrane. On palpation the ulcer felt moderately indurated. An ulcer was also found on the inner aspect of the upper lip and a third ulcer opposite the last lower right molar. In view of the patient’s age, the induration, and the presence of a hard mass of glands in the submental region, most of the members of the Chicago Dermatological Society, where he was exhibited, expressed the opinion that the lesion on the lower lip was an epithelioma. The presence of the other ulcers, however, was not consistent with this view, and the diagnosis of tuberculosis of the lip was established by finding large numbers of acid-fast bacilli, morphologically identical with tubercle bacilli, in smears and scrapings from the mouth, as well as by the results of a biopsy which showed isolated and conglomerate tubercles with characteristic arrangement of giant cells, epithelioid
A few tubercle bacilli found in the corium. Examination of the chest showed chronic pulmonary tuberculosis of the fibroid type. A general tuberculosis regimen was instituted, cocaine was applied to the lip to relieve the pain, the ulcers in the mouth were swabbed daily with diluted hydrogen peroxide, and filtered Coolidge treatment was administered over the lip and submental region, with the result that considerable improvement took place before the patient disappeared from observation.
cells, and small round cells.
were
I
1
Archives of Dermatology and Syphilology, January, 1921.
ANTLER.
surgeon has followed up his work
growth of bone by a study of the growth and shedding of the antler, of the histological phenomena observed during these processes and their relation to the growth of bone. On the authority of Sir William Flower the statement is made that in the larger species (such as the Irish elk) the weight of the antlers is more than that of all the bones of the skeleton put together.
on
This is not the most remarkable fact about the deciduous antlers of the deer. Not only does enormous growth, " according to plan," of these weighty defensive organs occur within three or four months, but the skin or velvet which covers these often palmate outgrowths, grows pari passu with the bone itself, so that there is complete reproduction of the whole of the cutaneous
THE INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS. THE first move towards a closer relation between workers in physical science dates from March, 1918, when, under the presidency of Professor C. H. Lees, representatives of four societies met to define the lines of future cooperation. These were the Faraday Society, the Optical Society, the Physical Society of London, and the Rontgen Society. Their decision to form an Institute of Physics analogous to the existing Institute of Chemistry took effect, and the Institute was duly incorporated last November. The Royal Microscopical Society has now joined the Institute, and it is anticipated that other societies will follow. A circular has been issued reciting the objects of the Institute and the regulations proposed for the admission of Members, Students, Associates, and Fellows. The two latter groups will use the title A.Inst.P. and F.Inst.P. respectively. The regulations for admission and for professional conduct are based upon those ruling in the sister Institute, and they will doubtless aid in raising the status of the physicist in the public mind alongside of the chemist. All branches of physics are in reality closely inter-related, and nothing but good can come of the amalgamation.
tissues, epithelium, cutis, gland and hairs, blood-vessels,
lymphatics, and nerves with each renewal of the antlers. do this the vessels of the velvet must grow with great rapidity to supply the abundant pabulum necessary for the skin growth, for these vessels have but few connexions with the special set of bloodvessels which supply the rapidly growing bone. The nerves to protect the sensitive growing antlers are outgrowths from the trigeminal nerve. The bony part of the antler is derived from a pedicle projecting from the frontal bone. The rapidity of growth is so great that all phases of bone development by osteoblasts can be found occurring simultaneously in one part or other of a half-grown antler, and the phenomena are, in the main, analogous to those of the growth of bone in other parts of the mammalian skeleton. Even from its earliest growth arrangements are made for the rapid shedding of the antler after it has performed its evanescent purpose. Osteoblasts form ossein which ultimately constricts the internal blood-vessels supplying the growing bone, leading to ischsemic necrosis, and the antler is ultimately shed from the action of the living tissue on the proximal side in the pedicle. Similar arrangements are also made for the shedding of the velvet. At first the larger cutaneous blood-vessels lie in grooves in the antler, but ultimately the excessive growth of bone forming the corona encroaches on them and subsequently obliterates them. The osteoblasts are evolved from pre-existing bone cells or osteoblasts in the pedicle, and Sir William Macewen thinks that the mass production of bone depends not only on normal cell division of the osteoblasts, but is aided by nuclear budding which he has studied and figured. A new and larger antler grows yearly from a single small centre of ossification in the frontal bone, forming a pedicle identical in structure with frontal bone and covered at the beginning of the growing period with cartilage which ossifies from the base upwards. The cartilage grows in advance until the full size of the antler is reached, when its ossification becomes complete. The pedicle once formed is a permanent structure, growing in circumference during subsequent years. The antler first appears during the second year of the animal’s life, when it presents only a single stem. Injury or disease of the pedicle or skull makes corresponding modifications in the growth of the antler. The separation of the antler is primarily due to the withdrawal of its blood-supply, both of the bone and velvet. Obliteration of the superficial vessels in the cutis-velvet takes place at the corona, the edge of the corona presses on and through the cutis, and, as there is no collateral supply from the bone vessels, the whole velvet covering becomes avascular, dries, shrivels, and peels off in shreds, although the growth in the interior of the antler is still active. The separation of the antler from the pedicle is effected also at the level of the corona, the bone gradually becoming avascular, very dense, with complete obliteration of the relatively thinwalled vessels. At the line of separation or shedding " the pedicle becomes very vascular and a granulation tissue" forms and gradually loosens the organic connexions between the pedicle and the dead antler, while
Obviously to
1 The Growth and Shedding of the Antler of the Deer, by William Macewen, F.R.S, Glasgow: Maclehose, Jackson, and Co. 1920. Pp. 109. 10s. 6d.
at the same time the deeper bone cells of the skull and pedicle proliferate, assume the role of osteoblasts, and are ready for fresh effort in producing a new antler. The whole process of shedding of the antler takes place in the open air and aseptically. No mention is made of osteoclasts as agents in the process. Sir William Macewen refers only briefly to the effects of castration on antler growth, and suggests further inquiry in this direction. Nature’s methods of selfamputation, be it by way of autotomy, shedding of an antler, or fall of a leaf, are scientifically perfect and are prototypes of aseptic surgery in its most complete and successful application.
TUBERCULOSIS OF THE LIP1 Dr. Erwin P. Zeisler,l dermatologist to the Cook County Hospital, Chicago, records an example of this rare condition in a man, aged 56, who sought advice for a painful swelling of the lower lip, which had appeared ten months previously. The entire lower lip was uniformly enlarged and indurated with several small areas of denuded epidermis. The inner aspect of the lower lip down to the gingival border showed a superficially ulcerated area, about 2 cm. broad, surrounded by cedematous mucous membrane. On palpation the ulcer felt moderately indurated. An ulcer was also found on the inner aspect of the upper lip and a third ulcer opposite the last lower right molar. In view of the patient’s age, the induration, and the presence of a hard mass of glands in the submental region, most of the members of the Chicago Dermatological Society, where he was exhibited, expressed the opinion that the lesion on the lower lip was an epithelioma. The presence of the other ulcers, however, was not consistent with this view, and the diagnosis of tuberculosis of the lip was established by finding large numbers of acid-fast bacilli, morphologically identical with tubercle bacilli, in smears and scrapings from the mouth, as well as by the results of a biopsy which showed isolated and conglomerate tubercles with characteristic arrangement of giant cells, epithelioid
A few tubercle bacilli found in the corium. Examination of the chest showed chronic pulmonary tuberculosis of the fibroid type. A general tuberculosis regimen was instituted, cocaine was applied to the lip to relieve the pain, the ulcers in the mouth were swabbed daily with diluted hydrogen peroxide, and filtered Coolidge treatment was administered over the lip and submental region, with the result that considerable improvement took place before the patient disappeared from observation.
cells, and small round cells.
were
I
1
Archives of Dermatology and Syphilology, January, 1921.