1. There are comparatively few discussions of the pathological nature of gliomas of the optic thalamus in the literature,1933
2. described a somewhat similar case, except that the hypertrophy also affected the essential nervous elements, and the diffuse glioma was present especially in the thalamus and pons. It can hardly be doubted that in these cases the diffuse new growth has arisen on a developmental basis, and although there is possibly much variation in cell type and differentiation, the main pathological features of the growth are similar to those found in diffuse gliomatosis of the optic thalamus;Marburg,1906
3. has described a case in which a glioma of the optic nerve was associated with a diffuse tumour of the optic thalamus on the same side. The tumour cells in the thalamus were in the main bipolar spongioblasts, and she classified the case on an embryological basis as a spongioblastoma polare. She has kindly allowed me access to her preparations, and while the growth should be labelled a spongioblastoma polare if an embryological classification is attempted, its diffuse nature with the preservation of the essential nervous elements admit of the possibility that biologically it had arisen as a diffuse gliomatosis;Stern,1937
4. Baasch, E. (1937). Schweiz. Arch. Neurol. Psychiat., 39, 26.
5. Marburg, O. (1906). Arb. neurol. Inst. Univ. Wien, 13,288.