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Abstract: Watercolour medical illustration depicting malignant osteosarcoma. It has the alternative reference number 1062, P10 and 4 on the front. The Richmond Hospital Museum reference is C.a.34. The entry for this in P263/1 pg. 20 reads 'Malignant Osteosarcoma of the Humerus. Mr Hamilton'. The artist's name is in the bottom right corner 'J. Connolly'. The typescript note on the back begins 'Osteosarcoma of the Humerus'.
Numbering/sequence: The full typescript note on the back reads 'Osteosarcoma of the Humerus. Mr Hamilton exhibited a preparation and drawing of malignant disease of the humerus. The following was the history of the case. Some months ago he was sent for by Mr Daly, Jun., to see a man, aet 70, who had broken his humerus while raising himself upon his elbow in bed. He was brought into the Richmond Hospital, December 10, 1846, where the usual treatment was adopted; and upon the 8th of January, 1847,he was dismissed, the fracture having firmly united, but the quantity of callus was unusually large. Upon the 5th July, he was again received into the hospital, for a fracture of the lower third of the femur: in attempting to sit down upon the edge of his bed, he had fallen, the bed being further from him than he had supposed it to be. He died upon the 22nd of July, from the effects of this second accident. When he was re-admitted, the situation of the former fracture was examined, and was found to be surrounded by a large oval tumour, of soft consistence and highly elastic to the feel; the two portions of the humerus could be readily moved upon one another. The examination of the tumour after death showed it to be composed of a fleshy structure, presenting the characters usually assigned to osteosarcoma; osseous spiculae, having a stellated arrangement, traversed the tumour. The medullary canal, for some distance above and below the situation of the fracture, was occupied by a structure similar in every respect to that which composed the tumour. Mr Hamilton remarked, that a question might here arise as to whether the humerus was the seta of malignant disease or not at the time of the occurrence of the fracture, or did the irritation produced by the fracture prove the exciting cause of the malignant action un the bone? From the slight cause which gave rise to the fracture, it might at first be supposed that the bone was the seat of malignant deposition before the accident occurred; but, upon the other hand, when the femur, which was broken an equally slight effort, was examined, there was not the slightest trace of malignant disease perceptible. – Museum, Richmond Hospital'.
Date details: Original reference number: 1062.