HISTOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION 307 



These difficulties have induced so strong a reaction that we 

 have only to read the recent text-books and articles published 

 during the last ten years to recognize that pathologists in general, 

 nowadays, refuse to consider embryogeny in their schemes of 

 classification, and from Thoma, or even earlier, from Hamilton 

 in 1889 onwards, through Ribbert and Lubarsch — the list is 

 so long that I need not give it — the tendency has been to divide 

 the autonomous neoplasms into those of typical and atypical 

 connective tissue appearance, and those of typical and atypical 

 glandular appearance. Some, like Hansemann, 1 would go so 

 far as to declare that tumours must be described purely according 

 to their histological appearance, and while certain terms in general 

 use must continue to be employed — terms such as adenoma, 

 sarcoma, etc. — nevertheless, the only right classification at the 

 present time must be by the organ, the tumours originating 

 from one or other tissue being grouped together. So that, for 

 example, we must group together the adenomata and carcinomata 

 of the stomach. In short, they urge that the topographical 

 classification is the only one possible at the present time. 



There is undeniably a virtue in this position, provided that 

 it is assumed in a proper spirit and regarded in the right light ; 

 not as a final stage, beyond which it is impossible to advance, but 

 as a temporary stage of careful collection and collation of all the 

 facts bearing upon the tumours proper to each individual organ, 

 to the end that we may, from the knowledge so gained, proceed 

 to further and sounder generalizations, that we may utilize the 

 facts so amassed, to formulate broad statements concerning 

 neoplasms, their relationship one to the other, and their mode 

 of growth. 



But against such a position this has to be said : All these 

 years, whatever the scheme of classification popular at one time 

 or another, pathologists have not been idle, so that we are already 

 in possession of an enormous amount of material, and, what is 

 more, of accurate drawings of the same. Hence, if preconceived 

 notions as to embryological relationships modified the earlier 

 conclusions reached concerning one or other form, the details 

 have been honestly described, and the descriptions and the 

 accompanying illustrations help us to determine where the 



1 D. von Hansemann, Die mikroskopische Diagnose der bdsartigen Qe- 



schwulste, Berlin, 1897, p. 22. 



