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884 PATHOLOGY OF THE DENTAL PULP.
able part of the coronal portion of the pulp there were patches from
which the odontoblasts had disappeared from their matrix. The pos-
sibility that these had been pulled out of their matrix in the removal
of the pulp from its chamber has been fully considered. This ])ulling
out occurs in a considerable number of cases, so that I have become
acquainted with its indications ; and in the cases mentioned these indi-
cations are entirely wanting. Fig. 479 was taken from the coronal
portion of the pulp of a tooth that had a considerable hypertrophic
growth extending into a carious cavity, and from the history given by
the patient it had evidently for five or six months been subject at inter-
vals to severe attacks of inflammation ; and, though there had been a
large increase of its tissue, showing a tenacious vitality and a strong
tendency toward reconstruction, the odontoblasts had disappeared from
many parts of its surface, and in other parts there ^vere but few left in
the matrix of the membrana eboris, as is shown in the figure. In this
pulp there was another abnormal condition of this membrane that
deserves mention, though it is but an accidental disturbance : Along
the dentinal wall, extending from the point of exposure through which
the hy[)ertrophic growth was extruded, the dentinal fibrils had been
drawn considerably out of the dentine, and the layer of odontoblasts
turned so that their long axis was almost parallel with the dentinal
wall, with their pulpal ends inclined toward the opening : this was evi-
FiG 479 Fig. 480.
Atrophv of the Odfmtol)! ists (compire with Atrophy of the Odontobla<
manner. There is also a peculiar variation
in their size. Some areolations appear in
the tissue ^ jVth inch immersion).
dcntly done by the swelling of the pulp and the protrusion of its mass
through the opening.
Fig. 480 is an illustration of the condition of the membrana eboris in
a pulp that had been somewhat reduced in size by the deposit of sec-
