Additional Cases of Osteitis Deformans

Abstract

I SHOULD not have offered to the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society a mere collection of cases such as this paper contains, if it were not for the hope that they may help to clearly indicate the chief characters of the disease to which I venture to give the name of osteitis deformans, and which, so far as I know, was first described in the paper published in the 60th volume of the Society's 'Transactions."Since that time, about five years ago, I After the publication of the paper I found that the name ostitis deformans had been given by Prof. Czerny, of Freiburg, to a disease described by him in the ' Wiener medizinische Wochenschrift,' September 27th, 1873.It is mainly, as he says, " Eine lokale Malacie des Unterschenkels," a rather acute inflammation of the lower part of the tibia and fibula, inducing softening and angular bending, and then followed by hardening.A specimen of the only instance of this disease that I have seen has lately been presented to the Museum of the College of Surgeons by Dr. Butt, of Hereford.Like all Prof. Czerny's cases it occurred in a young man.It may be well to add also that the sternum, a clavicle, and a rib of thp man, whose case by Saucerotte is referred to in my last paper, are in the Mus6e Dupuytren.They were obtained by Saucerotte many years after his account of the case was published.The description of them in the ' DapdIf tren Catalogue,' vol.ii, p. 148, leaves it very doubtful whether the disease was osteitis deformans.15 VOL.LXV.