486 TUMORS. 



(c) Dense, interlacing bundles of fibers (see page 162) are 

 found in firm, almost cartilaginous tumors of the skin ; if 

 pediculated, they are termed fibroma molluscum. They develop 

 in middle and advanced age, sometimes in large numbers all over 

 the skin, and some of them may reach a considerable size viz., 

 that of a man's fist, or even that of a man's head. Tumors of 

 this variety may be painful, like neuroma. In some individuals, 

 especially of the colored races, there exists a peculiar liability to 

 the formation of fibrous tumors. Around the auricles of the 

 ear, in females, they are usually caused by the piercing for ear- 

 rings. Such tumors are also remarkable for their disposition to 

 recur after extirpation, though, as a rule, the recurrent tumors 

 grow slowly, and retain their benign character. 



(dj Scar-shaped fibroma, Moid is a flat, radiating, freely vas- 

 cularized fibroma of the skin, usually painful. It grows slowly, 

 and attracts the neighboring skin in folds. It may grow from 

 a scar, produced by previous operations with the knife, or by 

 caustics, or independently of any previous cicatrix. It is also 

 characterized by an extreme proneness to recurrence. Accord- 

 ing to J. C. Warren, the cheloid is composed of more regular 

 bundles of fibrous connective tissue than the original scar. 



Combinations. Fibrous connective tissue, combined with smooth 

 muscle-tissue, is of common occurrence in the uterus and its 

 appendages. Sometimes smooth muscles are so abundantly pre- 

 vailing in the composition of the tumor that it deserves the 

 name of fibro-myoma, or myo-fibroma. These tumors will be con- 

 sidered in connection with myoma. Fibrous tumors, growing 

 from the mucosa of the neck or the body of the uterus, may 

 sometimes also exhibit an enormous new formation of tubular 

 glands; a tumor of this construction must be considered as 

 adenoma. Fibrous tumors of both the uterus and the ovaries 

 not infrequently are supplied with a large number of blood- 

 vessels, and then may be styled fibro-angioma. Sometimes fibrous 

 tumors are the seat of partial depositions of lime -salts, calcified 

 fibroma, and, especially those grown from the periosteum, may 

 be partly transformed into bone osteo-fibroma. 



3. CHONDROMA. CARTILAGINOUS TUMOR. 



Chondroma is a dense, firm tumor, composed of cartilage, 

 either hyaline, fibrous, or reticular, or these varieties mixed. 

 The fibrous portions sometimes produce trabeculae, which carry 



