550 
C. D. MORRIS. 
him as ostitus-deformans, and from the description he gives, 
stating symptoms, post mortem appearances, etc., I think 
there is no doubt as to its identity with the disease previously 
described by Varnell. Again, in Dr. Lippincott’s report of 
1 875-76, Philadelphia, he relates the history of a disease 
under the head of ostities-deformans which bears a striking re¬ 
semblance to that of osteo-porosis. Also Lane, in Grey’s 
hospital report, Trans, of the Pathological Society, London, 
1886, describes at length osteo-porosis, and I will here quote 
one paragraph from his very interesting and valuable paper 
in that report before discussing the disease from American 
pathology. Lane holds that the thickening of the skull is a 
process of repair, and not a direct result of the disease, and 
in mollities ossium the thickening of the skull is dependent 
upon an endosteal, and later upon a periosteal deposit of de¬ 
calcified lamellse of fibrous tissue, this being not a direct 
product of the condition, but an effort on the part of the or¬ 
ganism to oppose and limit the baneful influences of the pro¬ 
cess of decalcification in so far as it affects the cranial vault. 
He applied the same argument to the analogous condition of 
the skull present in ostities-deformans, rickets, and congenital 
syphilis. What is osteo-porosis as understood on the Ameri¬ 
can continent? It is a non-inflammatory disease of bone, 
characterized by defective action in one or more of the joints, 
affecting one or two of the limbs in an alternate manner, a 
much tucked-up condition of the abdomen, an arched spinal 
column, a straightening of the limbs, and, as the disease pro¬ 
gresses, an enlargement of the facial and sub-maxillary bones, 
with defective mastication, accompanied with tenderness 
upon manipulating the bones of the face. During the entire 
stage of the disease the pulse remains about normal, with slight 
variation of temperature, obscure pains, metallic in character, 
resembling that of rheumatism. 
I beg to give you a brief history of this disease as was 
manifest in these specimens before us. On the 14th of last 
February I was called to examine a two-year-old stallion 
suffering with lameness in the right fore extremity. Exam¬ 
ination revealed tenderness and some degree of heat in the 
