Case of a large bony tumor in the face completely removed by spontaneous separation. To which are added, observations upon some of the functions of the soft palate and pharynx / [John Hilton].

  • Hilton, John, 1804-1878
Date:
[1836?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Case of a large bony tumor in the face completely removed by spontaneous separation. To which are added, observations upon some of the functions of the soft palate and pharynx / [John Hilton]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    “most prominent parts being, almost invariably, rounded, “occasionally flattened, and sometimes over-hanging the “ fissures between them. Where the surface presents large “ and nodulous inequalities, it approaches to the botryoidal “ character; but where the inequalities are smaller and the “depressions numerous, deep and narrow, it is more like “ that of some species of fungi. Some of the cavities, which “ give an irregular figure to a part of the surface, and even “ extend to the interior of the mass, have somewhat the v character of cells. The section exhibits a structure of “ great compactness, more resembling ivory than bone, but “ possessing, I conceive, still more nearly the character of “ the crusta petrosa in the molar tooth of an elephant. “ The whole appearance of the natural and incised surfaces “ is so characteristic, as, in my apprehension, to leave no “ doubt as to the mode of formation of this remarkable tumor. “ It is evidently one of those adventitious productions which “ may be referred to the type of compound serous cysts, on “ the peculiarities and importance of which I have insisted “in a paper published in the Medico-Chirurgical Trans¬ actions. With this view, the inequalities of the tumor “appear to be sufficiently intelligible. The surface, being “ opposed to soft parts, retains the rounded form ; whilst the “ sides of the component cysts have been modified by mutual “ pressure. The principal depressions appear to be occa- “ sioned by the septa formed by these cysts: a few of them “ may be owing to the passage of nutrient vessels. There “ is one broad, but shallow furrow, which appears evidently “ to be of this description. This bony tumor, not merely in appearance, but also in “ character, may therefore be regarded as bearing some “ resemblance to the masses of bone which are sometimes “ found in the substance of the uterus ; where they are produ- “ ced by deposition of earthy matter, in tubercles, referrible “ to the type of compound serous cysts, and often erroneously “ styled fibrous tubercles of the uterus. This tumor, however, “ is more nearly resembling, if not absolutely identical with, “ some forms of exostosis which evidently depend on the “production of cysts. Such exostoses present a nodulous “ surface. When cut into at an early stage of their formation.