CALCIFICATION 437 



the iron demonstrable in noimal ossification is the result of an arti- 

 fact, for calcium deposits seem to have a great affinity for iron. Be- 

 cause of this, pathological calcium deposits take up iron from old 

 hemorrhages in the vicinity, and so in man}- areas where there have 

 been hemorrhages, especially in the vicinity of elastic tissue, there 

 occur actual ''calcium-iron" incrustations.'^ S. Ehrlich" states that 

 elastic fibers in the vicinity of hemorrhages take up the iron-contain- 

 ing derivative of tlic blood-pigment, and this acts as a mordant for 

 subsequent calcium deposition. The presence of iron in normal ossi- 

 fication is supported by Sumita'^ and Eliasscheff.* In the so-called 

 iron-lime lung Gigon ^ found l>ut a trace of calcium and much sodium 

 and potassium. 



Structure of Calcified Areas. — As before mentioned, in calcifi- 

 cation there is not the same uniform infiltration of the ground sub- 

 stance with lime salts that occurs in bone, yet the calcified area is pos- 

 sessed of a ground substance of organic material which does not dis- 

 solve in acids that remove the salts. There is no definite ratio be- 

 tween the lime salts and this albuminoid matrix, however. At first 

 the salts occur in granules, which may become fused to a greater or 

 less degree. It has been thought b}' some that the deposition occurs 

 in the form of ' ^ calcospherites." 



These are small calcareous bodies, iisiially of concentric structure, which were 

 first described by Harting. Tliey appear to occur widely distributed in normal 

 tissues, both animal and plant, and seem to be the result of the formation of 

 insoluble calcium salts in the presence of some organic substances, just as urinary 

 and other concretions are formed about an organic nucleus. If calcium chloride 

 and soluble carbonates are allowed to combine very slowly to form calcium car- 

 bonate in a solution of e£rg-albumen, these or indistinguishable bodies are formed, 

 which on being dissolved are found to possess an organic stroma that exhibits a 

 marked affinity for any pigmentary substance that may be present. Apparently, 

 Avhen the proper concentration exists, the salts in crystallizing hold between the 

 crystals tlie albuminous substances by which they are surrounded. Dastre and 

 Morat believe that the substratum is lecithin, which others have found occupying a 

 similar place in prostatic concretions. Calcospherites have been found in tumors, 

 in cystic cavities, and in bodies with beginning decomposition. It may be men- 

 tioned in passing that Littlejohn » observed the abundant formation of calcium 

 l)hosphate crystals in bodies that had been immersed for some time in sea water. 

 Oliver has found calcospherites in the tissues of a cancer of tlie breast. Pettit lo 

 found calcospherites in a. sarcoma of the maxilla, presenting insensible transi- 

 tions into the substance of the osseous tissue, and he suggests the possibility that 

 the calcospherite formation may be related to the formation of bone. It seems, 

 however, that tliey are probably more closely related to the formation of the 

 shells of invertebrates, which are largely composed of carbonates in crystalline 

 structure with an organic ground substance between them, and very little phos- 

 phate indeed. 



sSee Gigon, Ziegler's Beitr., 1912 (55), 4G; Sprunt, Jour. Exp. Med., 1011 

 (14), 50. 

 « Cent. f. Pathol.. 1000 (17), 177. 

 ■Virchow's Arch., 1010 (200). 220. 

 sZiegler's Beitr., 1011 (50), 14.3. 



9 Edinburgh ^Nled. Jour., 100.3 (13), 127. 



10 Arch. d. Anat. Micros., 1897 (1), 107. 



