On the Presence of New Elastic Fibres in Tumors

The question of the participation of elastic fibres in the hyperplasia of connective tissue has recently aroused a good deal of attention, especially since the discovery of differential stains has made possible the recognition of very delicate elastic fibres. Sclerotic bloodvessels seem to have been first and most extensively studied, with a view to ascertaining not only the fate of the elastic fibres in the media, but also the nature of the newly-formed fibres in the intima. Langhans1 was the first to declare that this new tissue consisted largely of elastic fibres, and later Baumgarten" and I-Ieubner 3 confirmed this view. iW[ore recently Dmitrijeff ' and Jores, ° working with better staining methods, have described in detail the processes occurring in arteriosclerosis. Though they find minor differences in the syphilitic and non-syphilitic forms, the process in the main is found to be the same in all, namely, a granular disintegration and final absorption of the elastic fibres of the media followed by an extensive proliferation of elastic fibres in the intima. The thickened intima, in fact, consists almost wholly of delicate elastic fibres. Both Jores and Dmitrijeff consider that the growth of these fibres in the intima is compensatory, to make up for the loss of elasticity in the media, but they differ in opinion as to the rapidity of their for-