On the origin of the so-called naevus cells of soft moles and the formation of the malignant growths derived from them / by Arthur Whitfield.

  • Whitfield, Arthur, 1868-1947.
Date:
[1900]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: On the origin of the so-called naevus cells of soft moles and the formation of the malignant growths derived from them / by Arthur Whitfield. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    notices at once that one of the epithelial folds is undergoing an alteration. The cells have lost their prickles, the cell bodies have become smaller and less definite, some pigmentation is occurring, and splitting off of the epidermis from the corium has taken place at the lowest point of the fold. This last may very well he artificially produced by the hardening, though this was done by means of the formaline-Miiller mixture which usually preserves tissues with a minimal amount of shrinking. Be this as it may, it is not very important from the point of view of its significance, since it has only taken place where this pigmentary and plastic change in the deeper layers of the epidermis is occurring, so that, if it be artificial, it must nevertheless indicate a greater delicacy than normal of the connection between the epidermis and the papillae, a fact which would be accounted for by the loss of the supporting epithelial threads and prickles. This photograph seems to me, therefore, to be very import- ant, as it is certain that the change is in the epidermis and in no other structure, and it shows that chat loss of cohesive power is taking place which renders the later occurrences so difficult to follow. Fig. 3 is a photograph of a rather more advanced stage of the process. It was taken from the surface of a large hairy mole on the face of a young child, and I am indebted to my colleague, Mr. Watson Cheyne, for the tissue. Here one can distinctly see at (a) the alteration in the character of the cells in the epidermic down- growth, and a Assuring, also possibly due to the hardening reagent, has occurred so as to slightly separate the mass of the cells from the main epidermis. The character of these cells is now that of the nsevus cells beneath, and I do not think that, without the evidence of the preceding photograph, it could be said whether these cells were growing up from the tissue below or down from the epidermis above. Fig. 4 simply shows the deep structure of the mole from which Fig. 1 was taken, and is given to show, first, that it is quite a typical soft mole as regards its deep alveolar structure; secondly, because of the very well-marked giant cells that are present, structures that are frequent in the malignant growths but not in the simple moles. From the simple moles I then turned my attention to the melanotic malignant tumours in order, if possible, to demonstrate the same progress of events. To my surprise I found that this was much