CALCIFICATION AND OSSIFICATION OF THE MENINGES

Abstract

Calcification and ossification of the meninges have held the interest of pathologists and anatomists for many generations, and the numerous workers who have investigated the subject have brought to light so much information concerning them that our present knowledge of this subject seems almost complete. However, the importance of the roentgen ray in the diagnosis of cranial pathology and the fact that calcification and ossification of the meninges are to be considered in the interpretation of all roentgenograms of the head make a reconsideration of this subject appropriate. Bony new growths in the dura are found frequently in the animal kingdom. They are present in the falx of the dolphin, the seal, the platibus<i>(Ornithorhynchus paradoxus)</i>and in the tentorium of cats, bears, horses and pachyderms.¹ The first reported instance of ossification of the meninges in man was probably that of Antonius Cattus<i>2</i>in 1557. In 1761 appeared