Tumor Inoculation into the Eye. 



209 



125 (1057) 



Tumor inoculation into the eye of an alien species. 



By Wm. H. Woglom, M.D. 



[From the George Crocker Special Research Fund, Columbia Uni- 

 versity, F. C. Wood, Director.] 



In recent articles Keysser 1 and his associate Hegner 2 have 

 reported the successful inoculation of carcinomata and sarcomata 

 from man and from the mouse into the vitreous humor of rats, 

 an outcome which they ascribe to the absence of protective sub- 

 stances in the eye and to the indifferent character of its proteins. 

 The tumors were injected in the form of a fine emulsion, the bulb 

 being entered on its posterior aspect in order to avoid hemorrhage 

 with the consequent entry of protective bodies from the blood 

 stream. 



Repetition of the experiment does not substantiate these 

 claims. A few drops of a fine emulsion of Crocker Fund carcinoma 

 No. 180 in Ringer's solution were injected under ether anesthesia 

 into the eyes of rats, and a similar amount of the same emulsion 

 into the eyes of normal mice to serve as controls; no hemorrhage 

 occurred during the operation. The extreme proliferative capacity 

 of this growth is shown by the fact that forty-nine mice out of 

 fifty-four which survived for more than three weeks developed 

 tumors from 0.5 to 1.5 cm. in diameter, while only five were nega- 

 tive. Since this approaches very closely the outcome of sub- 

 cutaneous inoculation, the eye, as such, is not an unfavorable site 

 for the growth of this neoplasm. Among eighty-three rats, 

 however, none developed tumors, although thirty-five lived more 

 than forty-twodays after injection and eight as long as seventy-one 

 days; hence, racial resistance protects the eye in common with the 

 rest of the body. These findings were confirmed by microscopic 

 examination of serial sections of the inoculated eyes. 



1 Zlschr. f. Chemother a pie, Originale, 1914, I, 188. 



2 Munch, med. Wchnschr., 1913, LX, 2722. 



