A comparison of the results obtained from the inoculation of portions of tissue affected with Paget's disease and of coccidia / by D'Arcy Power.

  • Power, D'Arcy, 1855-1941.
Date:
1893
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A comparison of the results obtained from the inoculation of portions of tissue affected with Paget's disease and of coccidia / by D'Arcy Power. 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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    microscope it is found to contain innumerable epithelial cells, but hardly any pus corpuscles. After the introduction of coccidia the psorosperms seen in the discharge are more or less altered, but present no sign of undergoing any multiplication. The introduction of pieces of sarcoma or carcinoma into animals similarly prepared never produces this kind of discharge. After the introduction of pieces of malignant growth, either there is no discharge at all or the discharge is simply purulent. It thus appears as if Paget's disease of the nipple and coccidia had something in common. Elsewhere I have shown that the majority of the appearances described by Wickham in cases of psorospermosis are due to alterations in epithelial cells, or at any rate that similar appearances may be produced in epithelium by artificial irritation. Some of the .structures described by Wickham, however, cannot be thus explained, and it is possible that these remarkable forms may be parasitic organisms differing entirely from the cancer bodies of Euffer. It is not at all remarkable that after the introduction of coccidia into the vagina of a rat, coccidia in various stages of disintegra- tion should be found even as late as 13 days afterwards in the discharges of the animal. It is rather remarkable, however, that they should set up the same kind of irritation in the vagina as is produced by the introduction of pieces of epithelium from breasts affected by Paget's disease. The results which I have obtained may be summed up thus:—In properly prepared animals the introduction into the irritated vagina of the different forms of carcinoma may produce definite histological appearances without causing any vaginal discharge. The inoculation of epithelium from cases of Paget's disease of the breast into such animals produces a well-marked vaginitis, which is intermittent and is character- ised by a non-purulent discharge. The inoculation of coccidia gives rise to a vaginitis similar in many respects to that produced by the introduc- tion of Paget's disease of the breast, but differing from it in being much less severe and in lasting for a shorter length of time. These results point to a connection between coccidia and Paget's disease of the nipple, but they are at present insufficient to make any definite statement as to the nature of the connection. Cases of Paget's disease of the breast are of rare occurrence, and my chief object in pubhshiug the results at which I have arrived is to obtain a further supply of material with which to continue the experiments. I would, therefore, ask every reader of this paper who may operate upon a case of Paget's disease, or of cutaneous psorospermosis, to let me have a portion of the tissue whilst it is yet alive.