ITS COMPOSITION IN DISEASES. 29 



Schlossberger on craniotabes, to which we have already referred) 

 is still wanting. Bostock,* Prosch,t Bogner^J myself, von Bibra, 

 Ragsky, Gerster,|| C. Schmidt,^ anc ^ Weber,** have submitted 

 these bones to examination. The earthy constituents of the bones 

 are more diminished here than in any of the other bone-diseases 

 we have considered ; but the physical examination shows that a 

 large portion of the cartilage is also destroyed, whilst the almost 

 brittle network of residual bony matter floats in thin fluid fat, 

 which amounts in some cases to 20 or 30^. The osseous substance 

 which is obtained from these bones occasionally yields glutin on 

 boiling ; but when the bones are very thoroughly affected by the 

 disease, the organic matter yields no gelatinising substance like 

 glutin or chondrin. I could not discover that the fat of these 

 bones contained phosphorus, as Nasseft found was the case with 

 ordinary bones. C. Schmidt proved in the most unequivocal 

 manner that free lactic acid was present in the fluid of the cylin- 

 drical bones. The fluid occurring in these bones exhibits very often, 

 although not invariably, an acid reaction ; and although the exces- 

 sive quantity of fat may in some cases impede the action on litmus 

 paper, I have known cases in which some of the bones of a patient 

 affected with osteomalacia exhibited an acid reaction (as the femur 

 and tibia), whilst others (as the ribs and pelvic bones) showed no 

 trace of the presence of acid, even where there was a smaller accu- 

 mulation of fat. We cannot, therefore, refer the resorption of the 

 bones to the occurrence of free lactic or fatty acids, unless in 

 direct opposition to well-attested facts. The occurrence of the 

 lactic acid may perhaps be owing to the development of a chemical 

 process in the broken-down fragments of the bones, which gives 

 rise to the formation of an acid, as Gerster, Schmidt, and Weber 

 observed in the case of perfectly disintegrated bones. The ana- 

 tomical investigation, as well as the analysis of the individual 

 morbid process, renders it more than probable that the occurrence 

 of the fat in the bones does not exert a primary influence on their 

 disintegration, but acts only in a secondary manner within the 

 spongy parts. The mineral substances decrease very considerably 



* Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, Vol. 4, p. 38. 



t Comment, inaug. de osteoin. adult. Heidelb. 1835. 



J Valentin's Repert. 1842, S. 294. 



Op.cit. 



|| Arch, f.phys. Heilk. Bd. 7, S. 142-146. 



If Ann. d. Ch. u. Pharm. Bd. 61, 8. 281. 



** Op. cit 



ft Journ. fur prakt. Chemie. Bd. 27, S. 274. 



