Hemorrhoids are usually described as bluish-red vascular tumors occurring in the thickened mucous membrane of the anus. They are generally considered to be varicose dilatations of the hemorrhoidal vessels, brought about by obstruction to the blood current and by chronic inflammatory processes. According to the investigations of Reinbach,1 however, a hemorrhoid is a true angioma, whose development, which may begin in early childhood, depends on a new formation and cavernous metamorphosis of the blood vessels, and may be quite independent of any obstruction to the blood flow.
As the pathology of hemorrhoids seems to be a more or less disputed question, and, since there is such a great variety of methods advocated for their treatment, which is probably due, in part at least, to the various conceptions of their pathology, I submitted to Dr. W. A. Evans specimens of these tumors for histologic and pathologic examination, hoping thereby to