CHAPTER III 

 CLASSIFICATION. 1 



In the now historically very interesting "Prolegomena of the development and 

 metamorphosis of the human ovum" contained in the excellent "Graphic Illustra- 

 tions of Abortion" published by Granville in 1834, some attempt was made to 

 group the abortuses there reported. The first 6 specimens are spoken of as 

 "lanuginose" ova of several types; the next 3 are designated as denuded or diaph- 

 anous; a few are spoken of as opaque; one as "uviform," that is, hydatiform; and 

 several as moles of various kinds. Most of the rest of the 38 specimens were given 

 long individual descriptive names, although several were spoken of as "coriaceous" 

 and others as "avellanated." A case of tubal and the well-known case of ovarian 

 pregnancy are among these specimens. 



In speaking of the uviform ovum, Granville emphasized that hydatiform 

 degeneration is a very rare occurrence and gave a very good short characterization 

 of it, saying that although, in this instance, three months had elapsed since 

 pregnancy supervened, nature evidently had spent most of this time "playfully 

 modelling, forming, and cutting out what would appear an artificial plaything, 

 so fantastical it looks." 



Panum (1860), from a study of collections of monsters found in various Euro- 

 pean laboratories, and also from extended experimental work with eggs, formulated 

 a more elaborate classification of deformities, but did not concern himself particu- 

 larly with the routine material from abortions. It may be recalled, however, 

 that he also spoke of amorphous and cylindrical chick embryos, and that 

 these groups of Panum's practically were equivalent to the nodular and cylindrical 

 embryos of His, Giacomini, and Mall. Panum's group of monstruositates Males 

 cylindrical among abnormal chick embryos were described as young specimens with 

 formless heads and somewhat deformed, rather rod-like bodies, which he ascribed 

 to lowering of the incubator temperature. 



His (1882), while considering only younger abortuses, did not recognize the 

 occurrence of empty chorionic and amnionic vesicles, saying that, aside from the 

 two or three specimens in which these cavities were filled with solid blood-clots 

 which made the finding of an embryo impossible, he never saw vesicles devoid of 

 an embryo. This observation is particularly interesting, because empty chorionic 

 vesicles, after all, are not very uncommon and one can hardly escape the conclusion 

 that his failure to see them was due to the fact that physicians sent only the 

 specimens containing embryos. This is not at all unlikely, for they knew, of course, 

 that His's interest centered so very largely upon the form of early human embryos. 



All younger embryos abnormal in form, below 15 mm. in length, were classified 

 by His as nodular, atrophic, and cylindrical. Sometimes he also spoke of some 

 of the atrophic forms as flexed or kinked because of the marked drooping of the 



1 Uncredited quotations are from notes or circulars written by Mall. 



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