No. 1.] ORIGIN OF HUMAN MONSTERS. 115 
The usual changes are again seen in the vascular system, and 
the dissociation of the tissues and organs is well marked. The 
mesodermal tissues, including the precartilages and periph- 
eral nerves, are more or less filled with round cells, which, 
as the epidermis is wanting, have also wandered to the ex- 
terior of the body. 
Specimen No. 161 is especially interesting, for the inflam- 
matory changes around it are no doubt due to the repeated 
attempts at abortion by the mother. The woman was already 
suffering with leucorrhcea, and it was easy for her to extend 
this purulent inflammatory matter into the uterus with the 
rubber catheter she had used. While this experiment was fol- 
lowed by great activity in the leucoytes and syncytium on the 
outside of the chorion, an equally active reaction took place 
within the embryo. The head end of the embryo is almost 
completely dissociated, but the process is less intense in the 
lower part of the body. In general, the changes are similar 
to those in the embryos described above. 
More intense changes are found in embryo No. 135, in 
which the duration of the pathological process must have 
been long, judging by the changes in the embryo and 
the chorion. The chorion, to which we look for the primary 
lesions, is smooth and devoid of villi. The large amnion 
within is filled with a jelly-like mass which became firm after 
it had been treated with formalin. The atrophic embryo con- 
tains a dissociated central nervous system without a brain, the 
head being very small and converted entirely into a mucoid 
mass. The eyes have sunk deep into the tissue of the head 
and contain hard lenses, composed of lens fibers. The an- 
terior end of the chorda dorsalis is much enlarged and forms 
a mucoid tumor, on either side of which may be seen a large 
cartilaginous mass of tissue. Heart and vascular system are 
filled with blood, which extends through their dissociated 
walls into the surrounding tissue, obscuring the outlines of 
the organs and peritoneal cavity. All this shows that devel- 
opment ceased a long time before the abortion took place, and 
that the tissues simply grew onward in an irregular fashion, 
Hels. they dissociated. 
