9G CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON. 



cartilage and the consequent abnormal arrangement and distribution 

 of osseous tissue. Experience may teach us that every syphilitic 

 does not show these bone lesions, but in the use of the X-ray we 

 evidently have a method which has the advantage of rapidity and 

 ease of application and which will yield valuable diagnostic data and 

 insure recognition of the presence of syphilis in a large number of 

 cases that would otherwise escape detection. 



Survey of Pathological Specimens. 



In 1917 the late Professor Mall had begun the preparation of an 

 analytical survey of all of the pathological specimens in the Carnegie 

 Embryological Collection. In this undertaking he had obtained the 

 cooperation of Professor Arthur W. Meyer, and at the time of Dr. 

 Mall's death the plan of the study had been mapped out and the work 

 advanced to a stage where it could be taken over by Dr. Meyer and 

 carried through to a conclusion. Owing to the comprehensive charac- 

 ter of the study, it has taken over three years for its completion and 

 publication. The work has now been issued as Volume XII of the 

 Contributions to Embryology and constitutes a reference book that 

 promises to be of great service to this laboratory as well as to other 

 workers concerned with the pathology of the antenatal period. 



The monograph is divided into chapters which cover studies on 

 different topics. The earlier chapters were written by Dr. Mall and 

 deal with the origin of the collection, the storage, classification, and 

 methods of study of the material, together with the protocols of all 

 the pathological specimens among the first 1,200 accessions. These 

 protocols have been entirely gone over by Dr. Meyer and in part re- 

 written. The succeeding chapters include a series of studies by Dr. 

 Meyer, covering special features relating to the pathology of the 

 embryo and the cause of abortion. Five of the chapters refer es- 

 pecially to the villi, the frequent occurrence of the hydatiform type 

 of degeneration, and the significance of the Hofbauer cell, reference 

 to which has been made in previous reports. Two chapters are 

 devoted to intrauterine post-mortem changes in the fetus and to the 

 problem of resorption of the conceptus. Other chapters review the 

 structural changes in the fetus and placenta associated with syphilis, 

 the correlation between the size of the chorion and the contained 

 embrj'o in the normal and pathological specimen, and the probable 

 non-occurrence of superfetation. The final chapter contains a general 

 discussion of the frequency and cause of abortion. There is a chapter 

 on localized anomalies, written by Dr. Mall, and a chapter on ovarian 

 pregnancy, written jointly by the two authors. 



Sex-Incidence. 



Mention should be made of the study of sex-incidence in abortions 

 by Dr. A. H. Schultz, which is embodied as one of the chapters in the 



