It has been known for many years that complete ligation of the arterial supply to the liver was rapidly fatal in several mammalian species. Considerable speculation as to the pathological changes and mechanism of death have failed to uncover a satisfactory explanation. In general, if the portal vein is left intact, arterial ligation alone does not produce definite infarction, but a focal or massive necrosis usually appears within twenty-four hours. In 1949 it was reported by Markowitz, Rappaport and Scott that dogs which were treated with penicillin were able to survive complete hepatic arterial ligation.

The mast cell is one of the few outposts of the body to which, as yet, no definite function has been attributed. These cells, with their numerous coarse basophilic metachromatic granules, are classified into two groups, firstly, the blood mast cells, or mast leucocytes, or basophils, and secondly, the tissue or histogenous mast cells. Modern authorities agree that the only common feature possessed by these two groups, aside from their name, is the basic metachromatic staining reaction of their granules.

Progress in surgical therapy is based upon the firm understanding of the anatomical, physiological and pathological processes involved in any specific disease entity. Each contribution must necessarily be only the addition of a brick, or at best a keystone, to the vast masonry work of scientific knowledge. [...]

The studies on carcinogenesis in hamsters represent actually a relatively new field of development. Gye and Foulds were the first to induce experimentally sarcomas in hamsters in 1940. This was followed by sporadic work of Ashbell (1945) and Shrader (1946), who reported on spontaneous tumors in hamsters, and that of Crabb, who induced sarcomas by injection of 9, 10 dimethyl 1, 2 benzanthracene in 1946. The extensive studies of carcinogenesis were initiated by the work of Kirkman and Bacon (1952), who reported the effects of various hormonal factors in male and gonadectomized female hamsters.

Various electrical methods for the diagnosis and study of human physiology and pathology are now in general use. The most important of these are the electrocardiogram, electroencephalogram and electromyogram. All are a measure of the electrical activity within the tissues of the organ under study. Pathological changes within the tissue cells are reflected by a change in electrical recordings from the normal. Clinical progress has been considerable with these electrical devices.

Since 1932, when Crohn, Ginzburg and Oppenheimer conceived the concept of regional enteritis (40), the disease has been subjected to the scrutiny of accumulating clinical experience and experimental observations. Admittedly, considerable information concerning its incidence, distribution, course, therapy, and diagnosis, has been added to the original description. Yet, despite diligent efforts, speculations, and experimental works throughout these years, there is little definite knowledge regarding the etiology and pathogenesis, and the disease has not been reproduced in experimental animals.

For many years Legg-Calvé-Perthes’ disease has been, and still is, an outstanding problem in the field of orthopaedic surgery because of the discomfort, mental anguish and prolonged convalescence it imposes. It is a problem also because of pain, deformity and disability which it frequently produces during early or middle adult life. Although considerable has been written on Legg-Calvé-Perthes’ disease, very little has been done to investigate the possible etiological factors which may initiate it.

In the bibliography of this thesis, the authors are listed in alphabetical order. In the text, the references are given by the name of the author or authors and the year of publication. When the same author or authors published two or more papers in the same year, to avoid confusion, the papers are indicated in their order of publication by adding to the year small letters of the alphabet. Thus Moore, Sandberg and Watne published two papers in 1960. The first is listed as Moore, Sandberg and Watne (1960 a), and the second as Moore, Sandberg and Watne (1960 b).

Rougnon, a French physician published the first case in 1768, (164), and Heberden, an English physician, in the same year gave the name angina pertoris to the clinical state of coronary ischaemia.(87). Since then many authors have concerned themselves with the nature of the disease while the treatment concerned Duchenne (55) and the rest as early as 1855. At the present time the terms atherosclerosis and occlusive vascular disease of the coronary arteries are synonymously used in the consideration of ischaemic heart disease.

The Nineteenth Century was marked in Europe and in North America by an increasing awareness of scientific thought which was carried into many fields of human endeavour. It was during this period that the study of medicine began to flower, as interest was awakened in the accurate observation and recording of natural phenomena as they occur in the human body in health and disease. Normal human anatomy was becoming increasingly better understood, the study of pathology was advancing rapidly and the infant physiology was gaining interest. Prior to 1830, acute inflammation of the pancreas had been observed and recorded so seldom that in the minds of most physicians it was a theoretical disease.