SARCOMA. 



531 



FIG. 144. 



time local, so that the nearest lymphatic glands often do 

 not become affected until after the lapse of years, and then 

 again the process is for a long time confined to the disease 

 of the lymphatic glands, so that a general outbreak of the 

 disease in all parts of the body does not take place until 

 late, and only in rare instances. In cancer proper the 

 local progress is often very rapid and the disease early 

 becomes general ; a cure, even for a short, time is so rare, 

 that in France the complete incurability of cancer properly 

 so called has been asserted and maintained with success. 



Among the formations also which 

 are analogous to the ordinary con- 

 nective tissues, and are therefore 

 apparently perfectly homologous and 

 benignant, the succulent ones prove 

 to be much more capable of commu- 

 nicating infection than* the dry ones. 

 A myxoma which has always a good 

 deal of juice about it, is at all times 

 a suspicious tumour, and, in propor- 

 tion to the quantity of juice it con- 

 tains, is its liability to recur. Car- 

 tilaginous tumours (Enchondromata) 

 which were formerly described as 

 unquestionably benignant, sometimes 

 occur in soft and rather gelatinous 

 forms, which may occasion just such 

 internal metastases as cancer pro- 

 perly so-called. Even connective- 

 tissue * [fibrous] tumours become, 

 under certain circumstances, richer 

 in cells and enlarge, whilst their 

 interstitial connective tissue becomes 



Fig. 144. Diagrammatic representation of the development of sarcoma, as it may 

 very well be seen in sarcoma of the breast. 350 diameters. 



* Fibrous tissue is dense connective tissue. It is not a special tissue, but only a 



