Abnormal Development of Toad Ova Q 



nervous system to radium, most investigators are agreed concern- 

 ing the marked action which radium and Roentgen rays have on 

 the vascular system. Although the action of the rays on plants 

 and ova shovs^s conclusively that other than the vascular tissues 

 may be directly affected by the rays, the changes in the blood ves- 

 sels in youngor adult mammalian tissues are among the most marked 

 lesions found after exposure to the rays, so that the effect on other 

 organs, as v^ell as on the central nervous system, has been described by 

 many as due to a secondary action on the tissues through a primary 

 injury of the vascular system. While even the vs^ell-known lesions 

 of the skin have been ascribed to action on the blood vessels or 

 nerves, Oudin, Barthelmy and Darier^ found in a study of Roent- 

 gen ray alopecia in guinea pigs that the layers of the epidermis 

 were affected, the follicles and glands were atrophied but no altera- 

 tions in the blood vessels and nerves of the dermis or subcuta- 

 neous were to be observed. Scholtz," in an important contribution, 

 concluded that both the nuclei and the cell protoplasm of the epi- 

 thelial cells of the mammalian skin are injured by the rays, but 

 that the effect on the connective tissues, elastic tissues, muscula- 

 ture and cartilage is slight. The skin on both sides of a rabbit's ear 

 may be affected when it is exposed to rays on one side only. The effect 

 on the connective tissues he thinks due to a secondary inflam- 

 matory reaction. Gassmann,^^ from a study of a deep Roentgen 

 ray ulcer, concluded thatthe changes in the blood vessels formed 

 the primary cause of the ulcer and its resistance to healing. Rudis- 

 jicinsky," from an experimental study of X-ray burns in guinea 

 pigs and rabbits, concluded that there is an inflammatory reaction 

 to the X-rays followed by a development of fibrous tissue and a 

 thickening of the walls of the blood vessels, and that degenerative 

 changes follow the impaired blood supply. Baermann and Linser," 

 from a study of the action of X-rays on lupus, concluded that an 

 endarteritis and contraction of the blood vessels with degenerative 



^^Oudin, Barthelmy and Darier: Monatsch. f. prakt. Dermat., xxv, 1897. 

 ^^Scholtz: Archiv f. Dermatologie u. Syphilis, lix, pp. 87, 241, 419, 1902. 

 ^^Gassmann: Fortschr. a. d. Geb. d. Roentgenbestr., 1899. 

 ■"•Rudis-Jicinsky: New York Med. Jour., 1902. 

 ^'Baermann and Linser: Miinchener med. Wochenschrift, 1904. 



