and Laboratory Methods. 2103 



NORMAL AND PATHOLOGICAL HISTOLOGY. 



JOSEPH H. PRATT, Harvard University Medical School. 



Books for Review and Separates of Papers on these Subjects should be Sent to Joseph H. Pratt, 

 Harvard University Medical School, Boston, Mass. 



Inowye. Ueber das Verhalten des elastischen Since Weigert devised a new staining 

 Gewebes bei Magen Carcinom. Virchow's ^u j r i 4.- cu ™ 



Archiv.,Bd. 169, pp. 278-284, 1902. 'method for elastic fibers, many in- 



vestigators have examined the relation 

 of elastic tissue to different normal and pathological processes. In tumors, two 

 views are held. By the first a new formation of elastic tissue is believed to 

 occur, while the second claims in all cases there is a displacement and a destruc- 

 tion of the elastic fibers. Inowye studied twenty cases of carcinoma of the 

 Stomach to note the relation of this tissue in such cases. The specimens of seven 

 of them had been preserved in alcohol, but the others were obtained fresh. 

 These were subsequently studied in this condition and after they had been 

 hardened in alcohol and formalin. The sections were first stained in borax 

 carmine and then by Weigert's method. In order to completely decolorize the 

 connective tissue Minervini's method of differentiation was employed. Inowye 

 found that the elastic tissue was frequently displaced and even destroyed. It 

 was but rarely newly formed. If new fibers were seen, they followed the arrange- 

 ment and distribution of the pre-existing fibers. He was unable to find the 

 cause for their new formation or degeneration. w, r. .s. 



Opie. The Causes and Varieties of Chronic In this valuable article the causes and 



Interstitial Pancreatitis. Am. J. Med. Sc. . .. r ^ • ,• ^-^.-o^^jfiol »->or. 



123- 84i;-868 iqc varieties of chronic interstitial pan- 



creatitis are discussed at length. The 

 clinical records and the autopsy protocols at the Johns Hopkins Hospital were 

 made use of, and twenty-nine cases were found. Seventeen occurred in males, 

 and over two-thirds in persons between the ages of forty and sixty years. In 

 ten of the cases, chronic inflammation followed partial or complete obstruction 

 of the pancreatic ducts, while one case was associated with haemochromatosis. 

 He distinguishes two types of chronic inflammation : (a) interlobular ; (d) in- 

 teracinar. In twenty-one cases the inflammation was interlobular, in eight 

 interacinar. The clinical and pathological report is then given separately of 

 each of his cases. He ends his interesting paper with the following conclusions, 

 which I give in full : 



1. Chronic interstitial pancreatitis is slightly more frequent in males than 

 females. Two-thirds of the total number of cases occur between the ages of 

 forty and sixty years. 



2. The most frequent cause of chronic pancreatitis is obstruction of the duct 

 of Wursung, due to pancreatic calculi, to biliary calculi in the terminal part of 

 the common bile duct, or to carcinoma invading the head or body of the gland. 

 Duct obstruction may be followed by the invasion of bacteria, which take part 

 in the production of the resulting lesion. 



