DEPARTMENT OF EMBRYOLOGY. 95 



Dr. J. P. Greenhill has published a description of the histological 

 changes in the tissues of the fetus in an advanced case of missed 

 abortion. Professor P. E. Lineback has reported the occurrence of 

 Polydactyly in a 22-mm. embryo, which apparently is the youngest 

 case thus far known. Drs. E. A. Park and G. F. Powers, of the 

 Department of Pediatrics of the Johns Hopkins University, have 

 completed a study of congenital malformations of the head with 

 coincident symmetrical malformations of the extremities. Although 

 their conclusions are to be considered tentative, Park and Powers 

 express the view that defects of this character originate in the germ- 

 plasm itself, and they point out cases of oxycephaly and scapocephaly 

 in which there is a known history of familial incidence. Their con- 

 clusion is in harmony with Dr. G. W. Corner's observations on the 

 frequent occurrence of degenerative changes and abnormalities of 

 growth in young pig embryos before the time of their implantation, 

 mention of which was made in the last Year Book. Dr. Corner's 

 work has now been published in its completed form. It is of con- 

 siderable clinical significance that his observations make it probable 

 that, to a large extent, we are to find the cause of pathological human 

 embryos in primary germinal defects rather than in abnormalities of 

 the implanation site. 



Syphilis in the Fetus. 



Of the normal-appearing specimens that come to this laboratory, 

 a considerable number, we are aware, are probably syphilitic. We 

 have, however, heretofore lacked any satisfactory method for the 

 definite recognition of the presence of this disease in the fetus and 

 have been entirely unable to determine the extent to which syphilis 

 is responsible for intrauterine death. At one time it was thought 

 that the Wassermann test might serve as an indicator, but the experi- 

 ence of Professor Williams, in the Johns Hopkins Hospital, has shown 

 that a positive reaction is rarely obtained — so rarely, in fact, that the 

 examination of the blood from the cord of the new-born has been dis- 

 continued as a routine procedure. In view of this, the successful 

 experience of Dr. P. G. Shipley and his collaborators in the recognition 

 of bone changes by the use of the X-ray is particularly welcome. 

 Skeletal X-ray plates were made of 300 white fetuses ranging in age 

 from the twenty-fourth week of intrauterine life to term. All of 

 these fetuses, on the basis of the external form, had been classified 

 in our collection as normal. Of 100 selected plates, 25 per cent 

 showed distinct syphilitic involvement of the bones. The sites most 

 often and most severely affected were the ends of the long bones of 

 the extremities. No bones, however, were exempt; even the bodies 

 of the vertebrae and the bones of the skull did not always escape. 

 The shadow of the syphilitic fetal bone differs from that of the normal 

 as a result of the irregularities in the calcification of the provisional 



