2200 Journal of Applied Microscopy 



twice ; syphiloma, once. Forster, in six hundred and thirty-nine post-mortems, 

 found eleven cases of carcinoma, a proportion of nine-tenths of one per cent. 

 Benign growths of the pancreas have received very scanty mention. NichoUs 

 describes such a tumor which he accidentally discovered at autopsy. It was 

 a small, round and somewhat flattened nodule on the anterior surface of the 

 pancreas, situated about the junction of the middle and terminal thirds. It 

 was tawny yellow in color with a few distended blood vessels upon its surface. 

 On section it seemed to be well circumscribed, rather soft, and exuded a little blood. 

 Microscopically it appeared as a perfectly oval nodule in the pancreatic sub- 

 stance, measuring three by two and a half millimeters. It was completely 

 enclosed in a connective tissue capsule which contained blood and lymph sinuses. 

 In the capsule small groups of cells were also seen resembling those of the pan- 

 creatic acini, but flattened, compressed and atrophic. The tumor was composed 

 of a great number of cell-masses bounded by more or less completely anasto- 

 mosing bands of fibrous tissue so that a somewhat imperfect and irregular alveolar 

 looking stroma was produced. The cells in these alveolar spaces resembled the 

 pancreatic cells and the growth looked like the tubular adenomata of the kidney. 

 The stroma was composed of slightly cellular connective tissue with round or 

 bluntly spindle nuclei. Minute blood vessels were found in the bands of the 

 stroma. The blood sinuses proved to be not true sinuses. The cells varied 

 somewhat in shape according to their arrangement in columns or in masses, 

 being short columnar or polyhedral. The cytoplasm was granular, the nuclei 

 were pale and somewhat vesicular, generally rounder irregularly oval, and rather 

 large. The capsule was nowhere invaded. It was consequently diagnosed as a 

 simple adenoma. No growth like this has been found reported. 



Nicholls reviews the literature and classes some of the cases reported as 

 adenomata, as carcinomata. Thierfelder's, Neve's and Ruggi's cases can thus 

 be excluded. A Cesaris-Demel has reported a case, however, of true adenoma 

 of the pancreas which had its origin from the excretatory ducts. Biondi also 

 has published a case which arose from the pancreatic ducts. Some hemorrhagic 

 cysts have been described that developed within an adenomatous overgrowth. 

 In Nicholls' case the cells did not resemble the ductal epithelium since they were 

 granular with a more deeply staining cytoplasm and showed no true lumina for- 

 mation. He thinks the arrangement of the glandular cells, their structure, their 

 peculiarities of staining as well as the appearance of the fibrous stroma, all tend 

 to confirm the idea that the tumor originated in the overgrowth of an Island of 

 Langerhans. w. r. s. 



Michaelis, L. Ueber Mastzellen. Miinchener It is not generally known that the 

 med. Woch., pp. 225-226, 1902. , , ^ ,1 1 ui • 



^ granules of mast-cells are soluble in 



water. The mast-cells, which are present in such very small numbers in normal 

 blood, have more resistant granules than the mast-cells of leuksemic blood. In 

 fifty per cent, alcohol the writer found that the granules remained intact. He 

 has devised the following staining method : 



1. Fix the films by heat or alcohol. 



2. Stain five minutes, or more, in a saturated solution of thionin in fifty per 

 cent, alcohol. 



3. Wash off the stain quickly with fifty per cent, alcohol. 



4. Dry. 



5. Mount in Canada balsam. 



The mast-cell granules stain reddish brown to reddish violet; the nuclei 

 blue. J. H p. 



