EXPERIMENTAL PRODUCTION OF PARAFFIN OIL TUMORS IN MONKEYS

By this time, the medical profession has become thoroughly aware of the danger which lurks in the surgical use of paraffin for cosmetic purposes, but, although by now almost an old story, the discussion pro and con still goes on. Thus, one of the most recent pronouncements is that of Davis,1 who concluded that for paraffinomas to develop in the skin there must be a predisposition on the part of the patient, since the majority of people into whose skins paraffin is injected do not develop paraffinomas. (The reader must keep in mind that we are speaking now of solid paraffin and not paraffin oil.) He concludes, on the other hand, that "the affliction is common enough to clothe the procedure of paraffin injection with a distinct risk," and that occasionally even epithelioma may develop. Oppenheimer,2 too, has voiced a condemnatory note. On the other hand, an Englishman,