415 



TfMULUS. 



TUMULUS. 



418 



The cartilaginous tumour mar grow to an enormous size : one in 

 til* College of Surgeons, which had almost completely ossified, mea- 

 nires a yard in circumference. It is situated on the upper part of the 

 tibia. But even in the most advanced states they may be removed by 

 the amputation of the part on which they are situated, without fear o: 

 their recurring ; and this is always an advisable proceeding : for be- 

 sides the inconvenience produced by their weight and pressure on 

 adjacent ports, large cartilaginous or osseous tumours are apt to pro- 

 duce uloeration and sloughing by their distension of the skin which 

 covers them. 



The greater number of those called Osseous Tumours, or osseous 

 exostoses, are only ossified cartilaginous tumours, examples of what 

 may be called the second stage of the disease last described. It is 

 doubtful indeed whether any tumour possessing the true osseous 

 microscopic structure is formed zcept through a preceding carti- 

 laginous state. Many other kinds of tumours connected with bones 

 are incorrectly called osseous or osteo-sarcomatous. Such are those 

 connected with medullary or soft cancerous ^ijnmu^ of which some 

 are only the osseous skeletons upon which the malignant disease was 

 fixed ; others are the remains of the original bone expanded and broken 

 out by the growth of the malignant disease in the interstices of its 

 tissue. And again, other hard tumours connected with bones result 

 from what should be called the calcification rather than the ossification 

 of a previous softer growth : for in these the earthy matter is deposited 

 irregularly. ""J tue >' never acquire the structure of true bone. Most 

 or all of these calcified tumours are of a malignant nature. One of 

 the best characterised forms is that of which Dr. Baillie (' Morbid 

 Anatomy ') gives the history, in a case in which, after Mr. Hunter had 

 amputated the patient's leg, calcareous masses, similar to that which 

 had formed within and around the femur, were developed within the 

 lungs and upon the ribs. 



The history of the Fibre-cartilaginous Tumour is as yet more im- 

 perfect than that of any of the preceding, except the cellular. It is 

 most frequently, or always, connected with the bones, and is most 

 commonly met with upon the jaws, from which it may be removed 

 without fear of recurrence. It has usually a round or oval form, and 

 its surface is less deeply nodulated than that of the cartilaginous 

 tumour. It may attain a great size, and commonly leads to sloughing 

 and ulceration of the tissues over it, if not timely removed. It is 

 composed of a very firm, compact, pale, whitish or yellowish, -albu- 

 minous tissue, in which small spicula of bone are often scattered, but 

 which does not become truly or entirely osseous. It may grow within 

 a bone, but more usually it commences on its exterior : in the former 

 case it generally expands the shaft or body of the bone into a shell 

 around it ; in the latter the surface of the bone is broken up, and 

 seems to coalesce with the tissue of the tumour. 



In different examples the fibro- cartilaginous tumour presents various 

 degrees of consistence, and not a few apparent diversities of internal 

 structure. In some examples ite substance is homogeneous, in others 

 obscurely fibrous ; and from theae last, which are the most frequent, 

 it derives its name, which is intended to express ite general aspect 

 rather than iU minute structure, for the firm tissue of which it is 

 chiefly composed has not the microscopic or chemical characters of 

 cartilage. In other examples again the fibrous structure rather pre- 

 dominates over that which resembles cartilage ; and in others nume- 

 rous cells, containing a glairy or a serous fluid, are scattered through 

 the interior of the mass. From the existence of such diversities, it is 

 not unlikely that more than one kind of tumour is included in this 

 name ; but the gradations, from the examples in which the tissue is 

 most nearly homogeneous to those in which it is most fibrous, or con- 

 tains most cells, are so numerous ami gradual, that it seems more pro- 

 bable that they are all of one kind, modified by accidental circum- 

 stances, or examined in different stages oi their development. 



The treatment of the tumours whose natural history has been 

 described may be summed up in a few words. There is no remedy for 

 them but their removal : not one of the medicines proposed for exciting 

 their absorption is worthy of a trial Of the means of removing them 

 (when removal is possible), none is so safe, so expeditious, or productive. 

 of so little pain or inconvenience, as the knife ; and whenever it can 

 be employed, the sooner it is used the better, for, in general, delay can 

 only increase the severity of the operation. For the operation itself, 

 the only general rule is, that the whole of the diseased mass must be 

 removed; any portion which is left will most probably become the 

 nucleus of a similar growth. The particular proceedings must be 

 varied according to the size, locality, and other circumstances of the 

 tumour. 



TU'MULUS (or BARROW), a Latin word, signifying a " little hill." 

 Tumuli, or artificial mounds of earth, of various sizes and forms, are 

 found in many parts of the globe, and are for the most part tombs, or 

 sepulchral memorials of persons of distinction, or of warriors slain in 

 battle. That some of these artificial mounds were originally raised 

 fur, or at least appropriated to, other objects than that of sepulture, is 

 probable ; but of this we have no satisfactory evidence. We limit our 

 present remarks to the consideration of tumuli as sepulchral monu- 

 ment*. 



In the book of Joshua mention is made of heaps of stones [CATBXS] 

 raised over dead persons, which in course of time would assume nearly 

 the appearance of barrows at the present day. This practice serum, 



however, to have been done in the case of enemies only, and was 

 doubtless intended as a mark of abhorrence. The earliest account of 

 tumuli as honorary memorials of the dead is by Homer. His descrip- 

 tions of the funerals of Patroclua and of Hector, in the ' Iliad/ differ in 

 very trifling particulars ; but in each the same mode of inhumation is 

 commemorated. The ceremony of burning the body took place during 

 the night, and at the dawn the embers were quenched with wine. The 

 ashes of the deceased were inclosed in an urn, placed near the centre 

 of the space occupied by the pyre, which was surrounded by an arti- 

 ficial substructure, or a foundation, and the loose earth was heaped 

 above it. The word used by Homer to denote the throwing up of 

 such loose earth (xws) is strikingly picturesque; and its pr< 



will be readily acknowledged by persons who have seen the outli if 



many of those primitive sepulchres, which has evidently resulted from 

 the loose earth being allowed to settle at the angle which it would 

 form when thrown up. 



In later ages we find accounts of immense sepulchral tumuli. Such 

 was that of Alyattes, the father of Croesus, which is described by 

 Herodotus and by Strabo. A sepulchral mound which still exilta near 

 the site of Acanthus was raised by the army of Xerxes, in memory of 

 a noble Persian who had superintended the construction of the canal 

 which was cut across the isthmus of Athos. 



Tacitus, from whom we derive the first satisfactory account of the 

 Germans, observes that their funerals were distinguished by no empty 

 pomp. " The bodies of illustrious men were consumed with a par- 

 ticular kind of wood ; but the funeral pile was neither strewed with 

 costly garments nor enriched with fragrant spices. The arms of the 

 deceased were committed to the flames, and sometimes even his horse. 

 A mound of earth was then raised to his memory, as a better sepulchre 

 than those elaborate structures which, while they indicate the weak- 

 ness of human vanity, are at best but a burthen to the dead." 

 (' Gennania,' xxvii.) 



Whether the body was preserved entire or committed to the flames, 

 the custom of depositing the remains of dead bodies under a mound of 

 earth has been observed in nearly every part of the world ; by the 

 ancient Scythians on the banks of the Borystheues (Herod., iv. 71), and 

 by the aborigines of North America on the banks of the Ohio and 

 Mississippi (Jefferson, ' Notes on the State of Virginia' ; Squire and 

 Davis, ' Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley,') ; and such 

 mounds are still to be seen in great numbers in Denmark, Sweden, 

 Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, and Great Britain. 



Of the sepulchres of the Scythian nations, many are found in the 

 Kuban. They are described as perfect tumuli, sometimes of great 

 icight, on a base formed by a square wall of large stones. In some 

 cases the earth is excavated to a considerable depth ; in others it 

 merely covers the body. The deposits, with the remains of the 

 are weapons and implements of war, domestic utensils, and idols. 



Vast numbers of the tumuli scattered over various parts <>t 

 many have been examined. They have been distributed by the 

 antiquaries of that country into four classes : 1. Tumuli without 

 xxlies, or urns. 2. Tumuli with bodies, but without urns. 3. Tumuli 

 without bodies, but with urns baked. 4. Tumuli with both bodies and 

 urns. Of the last class, several were opened in the neighbourhood of 

 iinzheim, and skeletons were found in them, with rings of brass and 

 ron about the arms, feet, and fingers, ear-rings, and chain or other 

 ornament surrounding the neck. (Meidinger, ' Die Deutschen Yolk- 

 stainme geographisch und geschichtlich belauchtet,' p. 208, &c.) 

 AT. Kemble, who " opened at least three thousand interments hi North 

 jermany," and found in the whole only two skeletons, whilst in another 

 >art (Sinzheim) he found in 14 barrows, " 70 interments and not one 

 ure case of cremation," thinks that the appearance of the barrows 

 utherto opened proves that the custom of cremation was at one time 

 general among all the Teutonic races, and that it only slowly dUap- 

 >eared before the progress of Christianity, which imposed the practice 

 if burying the bodies of the dead unburnt. For a time it seems to 

 iave been usual to inter the unburut bodies in the tribal inclosures, 

 and even to open, for their reception, the old barrows to which family 

 and other associations had given a kind of sanctity. This custom seems 

 to have continued as low down into Christian times as the 7th century, 

 and in many places much later, but eventually the custom became uni- 

 versal among the German races to inter their dead within the precincts 

 if their churches, and hence every churchyard became a place of sepul- 

 'Ure. We have quoted above Tacitus's description of the ancient 

 iennan manner of burning and burying the dead ; and there can be 

 ittle doubt, from the appearances presented by the major part of the 

 more conspicuous barrows which have been opened that, at least as 

 egards distinguished persons, his account is sufficiently accurate ; but 

 Ir. Kemble, who investigated this point with great zeal and diligence, 

 las shown that one and perhaps the ordinary mode was to burn the 

 wdy upon a stone structure raised for the pur|>ose. As the result of 

 lumerous explorations of previously unopened barrows,' and a com- 

 larisou of passages and allusions in old German and Scandinavian 

 iterature, he infers that " a heap of stones was built, having a hollow 

 or the body ; the materials for a fire were laid in thin, and the stones 

 made red-hot, and then the corpse placed in the trough, and covered 

 over with combustible materials till all was consumed. The hollow 

 was then filled up with more stones, and the whole surmounted itli 

 earth to form a barrow." (' Archaeological Journal,' vol. xiv.) 



