Moleskin

“ Fustian.—This name is given to designate low grades of cotton fabrics woven with a pile weave, such as Cotton Velvets, Velveteens, Corduroys, Moleskins, Cordings, etc. Fustian is also applied to such fabrics when they are made in a combination of cotton and flax or other vegetable fibre. It is more used as a [38] generic term designating a class of fabrics than to designate one particular kind of fabric. One class of Fustians has a raised "nap" on one or both sides, and includes Cantoons or Diagonals, which have a pronounced weft twill on the face side and are used for riding breeches. ”

“ Treatment.—The quickest way to get rid of a mole is to excise it; if the edges of the gap cannot be brought together with sutures, recourse should be had to grafting. In large hairy moles of the face whose size forbids excision, radium or the X-rays should be employed. Excellent results have been obtained by refrigeration with solid carbon dioxide. In children and women with delicate skin, applications of from ten to thirty seconds suffice. In persons with coarse skin an application of one minute may be necessary, and it may have to be repeated. ”

“ A mole on the left side of the mouth indicates another on the left side of the base of the spine and shows, to a man, that he will be entangled with a woman he cannot marry, and have illegitimate children. To a woman it shows a likelihood of the same disgrace.
A mole in the middle of the upper lip shows another on the lowest part of the body and indicates, to a man, that he will be miserable from various perils, but above all from women. To a woman this mole shows sickness and weakness from internal diseases. ”

“ The best way to remove the hair which grows upon moles is to shave it off or bleach it with peroxide of hydrogen. Electrolysis is sometimes used to destroy hairs on moles, but it is infinitely inferior to, and more dangerous than, excision of the whole mole. Moles very rarely grow quickly; indeed, usually they grow less rapidly than does their bearer. If you have a mole which suddenly begins to grow rapidly, go to a surgeon at once, for in all probability it has altered its character and become a serious disease. ”

“ Just how this belief originated it is hard to tell, but the fundamental idea is that moles are placed upon the body to foretell an event or decide the characteristics of a person.
In some countries moles are regarded with reverence, and the hair which grows in tufts from the moles is never pulled out or shaved. In Latin countries it is a common sight to see men with clean-shaven faces but with a mole on cheek or chin from which the hair is allowed to grow quite long. ”

“ On the grounds merely of microscopical investigations we conclude that the bone-marrow is by far the most important of the blood-forming organs, for its function is the exclusive production of red blood discs as well as of the chief group of the white corpuscles, the polynuclear neutrophil.
The physiological, experimental investigation of the functions of the bone-marrow offers insurmountable difficulties. An exclusion of the whole bone-marrow or of larger portions only is an impossible operation. ”

“ The erythroblasts continue to multiply by karyokinesis in early foetal life, especially in the liver, spleen, bone marrow and lymphatic glands, though later on their formation only occurs in the red bone marrow. In most of the erythroblasts the nucleus soon becomes contracted, and the cell is then known as a normoblast, while ultimately the general view is that the nucleus disappears by extrusion from the cell and the non-nucleated red blood plates or erythrocytes remain. ”

“ These cells are generally not very numerous in an unincubated blastoderm, but rapidly increase in numbers, probably by division; at the same time they travel round the edge of, and in some cases through, the hypoblast, and then become converted in the manner described into mesoblast cells. They act as carriers of food from the white yolk to the mesoblast till, after the formation of the vascular area, they are no longer necessary. The numerous cases in which two nucleoli and even two nuclei can be seen in one cell prove that the mesoblast cells also increase by division. ”

“ According to Müller and Peremeschko the mass of mesoblast which forms the spleen becomes early separated by a groove on the one side from the pancreas and on the other from the mesentery. Some of its cells become elongated, and send out processes which uniting with like processes from other cells form the trabecular system. From the remainder of the tissue are derived the cells of the spleen pulp, which frequently contain more than one nucleus. Especial accumulations of these cells take place at a later period to form the so-called Malpighian corpuscles of the spleen. ”

“ It is especially important that the mononuclear and the leucocytes associated with them, undergo no increase. As these cells under normal circumstances occur both in the spleen and in the bone-marrow, we must assume that normally also the bone-marrow is responsible for the majority of this kind in the blood, and that the deficiency in the splenic contribution can be easily covered by a slightly raised activity of the bone-marrow. ”

“ The process of division goes on in the blood in such a manner that the nuclear rod first divides into two to four single nuclei, and then the whole cell splits up into as many fragments. These cells occur also in fresh pleuritic exudations. After a time the nucleus of these cells becomes free, and the little masses of protoplasm thus cut off are taken up mostly by the spleen substance. The free nucleus likewise shares in the destruction. It is of the greatest importance that these cells, which up to the present have not elsewhere been described, should receive more attention. ”

“ Lastly, no child continues in the womb more than eleven months, but a mole continues for four or five years, more or less, sometimes according as it is fastened to the matrix; and I have known a mole pass away in four or five months. If, however, it remains until the eleventh month, the woman's legs grow weak and the whole body wastes away, but the stomach still increases, which makes some women think that they are dropsical, though there is no reason for it, for in dropsy the legs swell and grow big, but in a mole they wither and fall away. ”

“ The lesion consists in an overgrowth of epidermis which often presents an alveolar arrangement. Moles vary greatly in size: some are mere dots, others are as large as the palm of the hand, and occasionally a mole covers half the face. In addition to being unsightly, they bleed freely when abraded, are liable to ulcerate from friction and pressure, and occasionally become the starting-point of melanotic cancer. Rodent cancer sometimes originates in the slightly pigmented moles met with on the face. ”

“ The common brown mole appears to be much of the same nature as freckles, and to be situated in the middle layer of the skin, or membrane of color. Moles are sometimes so placed as to improve rather than injure a fine face. They contrast with the delicacy of a fair skin, and give a pleasing archness of expression to the countenance. They are, however, most frequently found on women of a dark complexion. The coloring matter, as in the case of freckles and sunburn, is probably some chemical combination of iron. ”

“ In the judgment of a section as to its fixation the following points may be of service: in alcohol fixation the red blood cells are haemolyzed, and there is much shrinking; with formol fixation the red cells stain copper-red with eosin; in mercuric chloride fixations the red cells stain rose-red with eosin, and pigment precipitates are present; in bichromate fixation the red cells preserve their natural color, and fat cells show a brownish color; osmic-acid fixation is shown by the black color of the oleates, and the failure of the tissue to stain by ordinary stains. ”

“ The exposed tissues must be kept moist with physiologic salt solution. Heat, chemicals or other irritants may be employed to produce the inflammatory reaction. For the study of the inflammatory process in sections the ordinary fixations may be employed, but for the study of the nuclei, mitotic figures and cell-granulations fixation in Flemming’s, Zenker’s, etc., is advised. Safranin, methylene blue and eosin, the various stains used in the study of blood-cells, etc., may be used. ”

“ The best idea of the cell is also gained by its study in a fresh condition. Vital phenomena and certain morphologic features, as cilia, can be observed only in fresh material. Many of the chemic constituents of cells (glycogen, fat, mucin, pseudomucin, albumin-granules, cholesterin, etc.) are either lost, or are so changed by processes of fixation or hardening that they can no longer be recognized. The majority of specific chemic tests can be made in fresh tissues only. Moderate and slight degrees of fatty degeneration and cloudy swelling are easily recognized in the fresh state ”

“ Fresh material may be obtained by means of a trocar, and may be examined in the fresh state, or films may be prepared, fixed and stained, as for blood-smears. Sections of fixed tissues may be obtained by the use of the same fixing and staining methods employed in the study of the blood or bone-marrow. For the study of the reticulum Mallory’s reticulum stain or the digestion-method may be used. In ordinary work formol-fixation followed by eosin-staining is of great value in distinguishing hæmolymphnodes and lymphatic glands. ”

“ The congenital growth rarely increases in extent, except as the body grows larger, but often the pigmentation becomes more pronounced and the hair begins to grow coarser in adult life. The development of small hairy moles upon the face of elderly
Fig. 29.
women, especially those suffering from hypertrichosis, is very frequently noted.
In the treatment of the pigmentary mole, acids or the electrolytic needle may be employed. For small, round, dark spots on the skin a minute drop of nitric acid, applied with a wooden toothpick, will often suffice to remove the blemish. ”

“ The main object in treating these tumors is to destroy them completely and to excite as little inflammation as possible in so doing. When even a large molluscum is removed by means of the curette no scar or trace of the growth is usually left, since the tumor is an outgrowth of the epidermis and does not involve the true skin. But when an inflamed molluscum is scratched or irritated to the extent of inducing a purulent secretion, a slight pit may be expected to result. ”

“ Guinea-pigs' serum is that most frequently employed for experimental work.
Hæmolysin (immune body, copula, sensitising body, amboceptor) is a thermostable antibody formed in response to the injection of red cells which although in itself inert is capable of linking up complement present in the normal serum to the red cells of the variety used as antigen—a combination resulting in hæmolysis.
Hæmolysin is obtained by collecting fresh blood serum from a suitably inoculated animal and exposing it to a temperature of 56° C. (to destroy the thermo-labile complement) for 15 to 30 minutes before use. ”

“ The advantage Fig. 4 frame has over Fig. 6, is that it is easier bent in the center, there only being one wire.
ARTICLE VII.
MOLES. It is not necessary to give more than one way to dress a mole. An expert can skin, stuff and sew up a mole in ten minutes in the following manner:
After killing a mole, let it cool; then 83make an incision along the abdomen, commencing at the tail and running forward two inches, or about to the center of the body. Skin out the hind legs, bone and flesh, down to the foot and unjoint. Press the skin back to the tail and unjoint it close to the body. ”

“ There are throughout the red marrow living cells which are constantly dividing and subdividing, forming more and more so-called daughter cells. Within these daughter cells hemoglobin is presently deposited; a little later they lose the nucleus and probably the remainder of the living protoplasm as well, leaving just the framework of nonliving protein with its contained store of hemoglobin. This is the finished red corpuscle, and it breaks loose from the red marrow and floats out into the blood stream. The rate of manufacture of red corpuscles is very rapid ”

“ If hairs grow upon the moles, they must be removed if possible. The only safe way (excluding electrolysis which is rarely called for) to treat the hairs on moles is to cut them short. You should never irritate a mole by pulling hairs out. ”

“ When myelocytes, no matter of what size, appear in considerable numbers in the blood of an adult, a leukæmia of myelogenic nature is nearly always present. (For the very rare exceptions to this rule, which it may be added can never be confused with leukæmia, see pages 77, 78.)
Exactly similar conditions hold good for the eosinophil cells, in as much as the singly nucleated forms, which one may call eosinophil myelocytes, occur, almost exclusively, [Pg 111] in leukæmic blood. ”

“ Some think, that if the woman's seed goes into the womb, and not the man's, that the mole is produced thereby. Others declare that it springs from the menstruous blood, but if these two things were granted, then virgins, by having their courses or through nocturnal pollutions, might be liable to the same things, which none have ever been yet. The true cause of this fleshy mole is due both to the man and from the menstruous blood in the woman both mixing together in the cavity of the womb. ”

“ If you have a large and really disfiguring mole on your face have it removed by a surgeon. The younger you are the better will be the result of the operation. A minute scar will be left where the cut was made, but if the mole was removed early in life the scar will be a small linear mark often quite unnoticeable. These big moles are, in themselves, somewhat dangerous, for in elderly people they occasionally develop into cancers. ”

“ It is a tissue similar in many respects to the spleen, and, though confined to the short and flat bones, the total amount in the body is very considerable. In the young it also fills the long bones. The evidence of the development of red corpuscles in the marrow rests upon the constant presence of nucleated cells infiltrated with hæmoglobin, and of their fission. Forms undergoing the process of karyokinesis can be seen without difficulty. In excessive hemorrhage, natural or induced, it appears to undergo an active proliferation, and in the long bones a red marrow may replace the fatty tissue. ”