and Laboratory Methods. l5^-> 



NORMAL AND PATHOLOGICAL HISTOLOGY. 



Joseph H. Pratt. 



Harvard University Medical School, Boston, Mass., to whom all books and 

 papers on these subjects should be sent for review. 



Wells, H. G. Multiple Primary Malignant yj^^^^ ^^s collected from the literature 

 Tumors ; Primary Sarcocarrmoma in the 



Thyroid of a Dog, with Mixed Sarcomatous Only seventeen cases of primary multi- 

 and Carcinomatous Metastases. Journal of ]g malignant growths. The great 



Pathology and Bacteriology, 7: 357-366, ^ ° " . . ,. ° 



igoi. rarity of the co-existence of different 



kinds of malignant tumors seems to 

 show that the presence of one variety does not predispose to the development of 

 another type. Their occurrence is probably fortuitous. He also has found two 

 cases and only two of tumors of a mixed epithelial and mesoblastic type, and to 

 these adds a case of his own. These two cases are not complete, but are prob- 

 ably authentic. In his case there was a primary growth showing a true sarco- 

 matous and carcinomatous type, and metastatic nodules were found in the lymph- 

 nodes, heart, lungs, and kidneys, showing not only secondary growths of both 

 types, but in several nodules there were both sarcomatous and carcinomatous 

 growths in the same nodule. The primary tumor was in the thyroid of a dog, 

 but in his plates the alveolar carcinoma and the sarcomatous growths are not 

 very clearly shown. 



He discusses further the bearing of these cases on the theories of the etiol- 

 ogy of tumors and in conclusion states that the very great rarity of these sarco- 

 carcinomatous growths offers positive proof that the organism, if such there is, 

 which causes malignant tumors is not the same for sarcoma and carcinoma, 

 otherwise the frequency of these mixed growths would be greater. He thinks it 

 is not surprising that multiple malignant growths should occur in the body, and 

 further calls attention to the remarkable fact that these three cases of mixed 

 tumor were in the thyroid. 



We do not think the author is fully justified in claiming such a great rarity 

 of primary multiple malignant growths. His list does not include all the pub- 

 lished ones, for, looking through five years' records of 1000 tumors, microscop- 

 ically examined, we find a number of multiple primary malignant growths. 



H. C. Low. 



Sultan, C. Beitrag zur Kenntniss der Schild- Katzenstein stated in 1899, as a result 

 driisen-Function. Archiv fiir klinische 

 Chirurgie, 63: 620-626, 1901. of his experiments, that the thyroid 



gland is not an organ essential to the 



animal economy, and that it can be removed without necessarily destroying the 



health of the animal. Sultan has followed the same method of investigation, 



but has arrived at a different conclusion. Total extirpation of the thyroid glard 



in dogs and cats was followed by severe, characteristic disease-phenomena ending 



in death if accessory gland-tissue was not present in sufficient amount to take 



up the functions of the thyroid. Sultan thinks that Katzenstein, who worked 



with dogs, overlooked accessory thyroids and was thereby led into drawing false 



conclusions. 



