t2 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



mentioned, in the cells of epithelial new growths. The inclusions vary in 

 their characters. Some resemble minute coccus-like bodies in the proto- 

 plasm, staining intensely and uniformly, and varying in size from less than a 

 micron to rather more. There may be seven or eight minute bodies or one 

 or two or three larger ones. Some of the inclusions are decidedly yeast-like, 

 in appearance are elliptical, and in some instances are partially decolorized, 

 or only partly stained, such as we sometimes observe in preparations of true 

 yeasts. Certain fields have given us examples of these bodies free between 

 the cells. 



In other cases the tumour-cells have been observed distended by a 

 spherical body \vith a sharply marked border, containing within it a 

 chromidium, a little mass of deeply stained chromatin. The nucleus of the 

 tumour-cell is pushed to the periphery and compressed, lying there flattened 

 like the nucleus of a liver-cell squeezed by a large, fat droplet. The appearance 

 of the inclusion recalls the " pigeon-eye bodies " described by Savtchenko in 

 epitheliomata. It is maintained by some that this peculiar appearance is 

 merely due to a vacuole; but with this I cannot agree. The protoplasm of 

 the inclusion stains light-green by the Magenta-Cajal process and in con- 

 trast to protoplasm of the tumour-cells around not containing an inclusion. 

 It was from these inclusions that the belief grew that the tumour-cells in 

 cancer contained a coccidium, and that a parasite of the nature of a coccidium 

 was probably the causa causans of cancer. The various inclusions seen by 

 different workers, and which they have described, certainly in many 

 instances are highly suggestive of phases in the life-cycle of a coccidium ; but 

 the idea that the inclusions are such is now nearly wholly abandoned. It 

 seems to be very probable that the granules must be viewed as chromidia of 

 nuclear derivation, and that the coccidium-like bodies are really due to 

 " une evolution tres speciale de I'archoplasma et des centrosomes des cellule^ 

 cancereuses" (Borrel). 



Carcinoma. Case 3. — The subject was a song-thrush, Turdus musicus 

 I had observed the bird for some days previous to capture exhibiting 

 symptoms of difficulty in respiration. The mouth was widely opened at 

 every inspiration ; and I thought it was suffering from the complaint known 

 among poultry-keepers as "gapes," due to the presence in the respiratory 

 passages of a nematode worm, the syngamus trachealis. The bird was caught 

 with the object of treating it for " gapes," but died in the hand without being 

 injured in any way. I made immediately a post-mortem examination, and 

 found the left lung had disappeared, and that a new growth the size of a 

 hazel-nut occupied its place. The tumour was firm and greyish-white in 

 colour, and when cut into showed areas of necrosis. The tumour was fixed 



