By means of histological methods the authors examined the blood and fluid circulatory disturbances associated with cranial and cerebral injuries. The presence of vital reactions was studied by means of the combined histological study of the dura mater, pacchionian granulations and the central nervous system. Samples for histological study were taken from 115 cadavers who had suffered cranial injuries, from 15 individuals who died from destructive cerebral apoplexy caused by a disease and from 30 individuals who died of natural causes. The authors applied a special fixation and sampling technique and, using various histological reactions, the following vital reactions were observed: the appearance of blood-cell elements in the granulation, a moderate fibrin degradation product and hemoglobin phagocytosis, and occasionally lipid phagocytosis. The authors worked out a method that was shown to be highly effective in the more precise determination of the induction time of cerebral apoplexy caused by a disease and that of traumatic injury of the brain.
