HISTOLOGY OF THE MAMMARY GLAND. 
285 
the most varying neoplasms, and not only develop themselves out of 
the elements of other tissue cells, but also form epithelial cells, muscle 
fibres, capillaries, and the endothelium of veins (Virchow’s Archiv., vol. 
14, p. 51). Ziegler* * * § considers the giant cells as altered colorless blood 
corpuscles. Rindfleisch f thought they originated from epithelial cells. 
Brodowsky J considered them to be germ cells from capillaries. 
Schiippel and Visconti § held the opinion that they developed from 
blood vessels. Klebs, Roster, Langhaus and Hering || viewed the giant 
cells as transverse sections of capillaries and lymph vessels. According 
to Weyss, the giant cells take their origin in a confluence of granulation 
cells. I have never been able to see the formation of giant cells by the 
degeneration of blood-corpuscles, nor from the germ cells of capillaries. 
I have observed bodies resembling giant cells in the nodule (perlknoten) 
of the pleura and lungs, but upon examining them more closely, they 
appeared to be changed blood vessels; not only was their connection 
with the blood vessels visible, but there was also a quantity of round and 
oval elements at their borders, which was nothing more than a prolifer¬ 
ated condition of the capillary epithelium, and that the fine fibrous or 
granular masses in the centre of these formations were nothing more 
than coagulated fibrine. Besides these bodies, genuine giant cells were 
visible in the nodule (perlknoten) of the pleura, lungs and mammary 
gland. I perceived round oval connective tissue elements, having a 
large nucleus ; also, somewhat larger stellate cells, containing 2 or 3 
nuclei, together with giant cells ; and I am inclined to consider the two 
first as stages of development of giant cells. 
I have also found the mammary gland of animals slaughtered on 
account of perlsucht, to present exactly the same histological construc¬ 
tion as that which Virchow found in the pleura, lungs and lymph glands 
of cows affected with perlsucht, and which he described as lymphosar¬ 
coma. 
This investigation led me to the conclusion that lymphosarcomatose 
nodules can develop themselves as metastases in the mammary gland of 
* Ziegler. Experimentelle untersuchungen uber die Herkauft, der Tubercle Elemente mit 
Cesondere Berucksichtigung der Histologensee der Reisenzellen. Wursburg. 
t Rindfleisch. Lehrbuch der pathologischen. Gewebelehre, 1875. 
X Brodowsky. Virchow’s Archiv., vol. 63. 
§ Visconti. Sulla origine della cellule gigantesche del sarcoma giganto-cellulare del tubercols 
e. delle ossa. Milans, 1875. 
|| Klebs: Virchow’s Archiv., vol. 44, p. 286. Koster: Virchow’s Archiv., vol. 48, p. 95. 
Langhaus: Virchow’s Archiv., vol. 42, p. 382. Hering: Histologische und experimentelle studien 
uber Tuberculose. Berlin, 1873. P. 105. 
