ULCERATION OF CARTILAGE. 117 



surface, but by the passage into its substance of nipple- 

 shaped vascular and cellular processes from the bone 

 on which it rests. The subsequent very extended 

 series of observations of Professor Eedfern * of Belfast 

 have added to and modified our knowledge of this 

 subject. . He considers that the vascular membrane, 

 which Goodsir described as concerned in absorbing the 

 cartilage and causing ulceration, to be the changed 

 substance of the cartilage itself, which goes on to form 

 the cicatrix. He also directed attention to the changes, 

 such as the formation of fibres, in the intercellular 

 substance, and considers that ulceration is a process of 

 molecular disintegration not necessarily attended by 

 any change in the cells. 



With rare exceptions, Goodsir held by his own 

 views of the cell in growth, metamorphosis, and decay, 

 and with great tenacity, as if heedless of those who 

 followed him in the same path of inquiry ; and he was 

 not less reticent of the diversity of opinion prevailing 

 In the schools — a diversity approximative to the quot 

 homines tot sententia. 



* Professor Redfern on "Anormal Nutrition in Articular Cartilages" — 

 (Monthly Journal of Med . 1819-1850). 



