UYAfJXK DEGENERATIOX 423 



Local amyloid accumulations are of some interest in considering 

 the genesis of the usual generalized form. They occur particularly 

 as small tumors in the larynx, bronchi, nasal septum, and eyelids; as 

 all these tissues are normally rich in chondroitin-sulphuric acid, it 

 seems probable that the amyloid arises from a local overproduction of 

 cliondroitin-sulphuric acid, which becomes bound with proteins in 

 .liitu. This makes it seem more probable that, in spite of the lack of 

 positive experimental evidence, general amyloidosis is due to liberation 

 of excessive quantities of chondroitin-sulphuric acid in the sites of 

 tissue destruction. 



Another form of local amyloid is seen particularly in the regional 

 lymph-glands of suppurating areas; e. g., the lumbar glands in verte- 

 bral caries, the axillary glands in shoulder- joint suppuration. This 

 local amyloidosis is undoubtedly due simply to the fact that these 

 glands receive first, and in largest amounts, the cause, whatever it may 

 be, of the amyloid production. ° Less readily explained are cases of 

 extensive amyloidosis limited to the heart.^° 



Corpora amylacea will be found discussed under "Concretions" 

 (Chap. xv). 



HYALINE DEGENEHATION '^ 



]\Iuch confusion concerning this condition may be avoided if we ap- 

 preciate that the term hyaline indicates a certain physical condition, 

 which may be exhibited by many substances of widely different na- 

 ture and origin. There is no one chemical compound, "hijnlin," 

 which, accumulating in cells or tissues, produces a hyaline appear- 

 rince. The limits of the application of the term "hyaline degenera- 

 tion," even to histological findings, is not agreed upon, but in gen- 

 eral it is used to apply to clear, homogeneous, pathological substances 

 that possess a decided affinity for acid stains, such as eosin. 

 Somewhat similar substances, usually of epithelial origin, which do 

 not take either acid or basic stains strongly, are usually called "col- 

 loid." We may properly consider that pathological hyalin can be 

 divided into two chief classes according to its origin: (1) connective- 

 tissue hyalin ; (2) epithelial hyalin. 



Connective=tissue hyalin is characterized, like amyloid, by being 

 deposited in or among the fibrillar substance of connective tissues, and 

 not within the cells themselves, but there are undoubtedly several dif- 

 ferent sorts of chemical substances responsible for various forms of 



9 Quite unexplained is the eause of the rarelv observed localization of amyloid 

 in the wall of the urinary bladder. See Luckseli (Verb. Deut. path. Gesell., 1904 



(7), 34). Concretions ofivinp the amvloid reactions have been found in the pelvis 

 of the kidnev. (Schmidt, Cent. f. Pathol., 1912 (23), 86.5. Mivauchi. ihid., 1915 



(26). 289.) ■ 



10 See Hecht. Virchow's Arch., 1910 (202), 168. 



11 General literature, see Lubarsch, Ergeb. allg. Path., 1897 (4), 449. 



