366 CALCIFICATION, CONCRETIONS, AND INCRUSTATIONS 



after decalcification no coloration could be obtained. S. Ehrlich l 

 states that elastic fibers in the vicinity of hemorrhages take up 

 an iron-containing derivative of the blood-pigment, and this 

 acts as a mordant for subsequent calcium deposition. 



Structure of Calcified Areas. As before mentioned, 

 in calcification there is not the same uniform infiltration of the 

 ground substance with lime salts that occurs in bone, yet the 

 calcified area is possessed of a ground substance of organic 

 material which does not dissolve in acids that remove the salts. 

 There is no definite ratio between 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 by some that the deposition occurs in the 

 form of " calcospherites." 



These are small calcareous bodies, usually of concentric structure, 

 which were first described by Harting. They 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 carbonate 

 in a solution of egg-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, when the proper concentration exists, the salts in 

 crystallizing hold between the crystals the albuminous substances by 

 which they are surrounded. Dastre and Morat believe that the sub- 

 stratum 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 

 mentioned in passing that Littlejohn 2 observed the abundant formation 

 of calcium phosphate crystals in bodies that had been immersed for some 

 time in sea water. Oliver has found calcospherites in the tissues of a 

 cancer of the breast. Pettit 3 found calcospherites in a sarcoma of the 

 maxilla, presenting insensible transitions 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 they 

 are probably more 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 phosphate indeed. 



OCCURRENCE OF PATHOLOGICAL CALCIFICATION 



As far as we know, calcification never occurs in normal 

 tissue, except in the formation of bone. Often the infiltrated 

 tissue is completely dead, as in infarcts, organic foreign bodies, 



1 Cent. f. Pathol., 1906 (17), 177. 



2 Edinburgh Med. Jour., 1903 (13), 127. 



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



