DESCRIPTION OF AN ERECTILE TUMOUR. 505 



creased in size from the central venous cavities to the surface 

 of the skin, and to the deep limits of the disease, these limits 

 being denned by the internal membrane of the venous system, 

 which was continuous through all the areolae. 



The diseased mass had not displaced the surrounding tex- 

 tures, but had caused them to disappear before it, as in certain 

 malignant growths and ulcerations bone, ligament, muscle, 

 and fat having equally failed in resisting its progress, the skin 

 alone standing out against its advance, and along with the 

 venous membrane forming the limit of its superficial position. 



The areolae of which the mass consisted were elongated 

 from the central cavities towards the limits of the disease, 

 being more elongated the nearer they were to the centres. 

 The peculiar form of the areolae was due to the radiated direc- 

 tion of the bars and imperfect laminae which separated them, 

 these being thicker, stronger, more elongated, and more sepa- 

 rated from one another around the central cavities than near 

 the circumference, where they were shorter, firmer, and much 

 more numerous. 



The bars and imperfect laminae consisted of fibrous tex- 

 tures exactly resembling that of the tendinous ligaments, and 

 aponeuroses with numerous germinal centres. 



The bars and laminae were all covered, and consequently 

 they contained areolae, lined by a fine membrane, consisting of 

 tesselated epithelium, and continuous with the lining mem- 

 brane of the venous system, at the central cavities or diseased 

 terminations of the saphenae and plantar veins. 



In many of the bars and laminae small arteries were 

 situated, and one of these was traced nearly to the termination 

 of the anterior tibial on the back of the foot, It was not 

 ascertained how the arteries terminated, but it was presumed 

 that they passed by small oblique orifices into the venous 

 areolae, as the curling arteries of the human placenta pass into 

 the venous areolae of the decidua. 



