Some Interesting Cases of Calcareous Degeneration Found in the Thorax

Before considering following cases of calcareous degeneration found in thoracic region, a brief review of subject seems advisable. The chemical, physical and clinical evidences of pathologic calcifications have been noted from time to time for many years; interesting cases have been reported in literature and important treatises written regarding cause and effect. Aristotle and Galien 1 mentioned cases of stone in in their records. Sommering 2 in 1769 wrote of a case of pulmonary calcification which he considered as a secondary manifestation (metastasis). In 1824, Rullier 3 reported a case of primary calcification of a right upper lung in which a great number of calcified fragments were found. Furhmann 4 thought that deposition of calcium salts might follow any chronic irritation of body tissues, and that this explanation accounted for exercise bone (calcium formation in deltoid muscle) and the riders' bones, which proved to be calcium