Chondromyxosarcoma is a rare form of vertebral tumor, judging from the lack of any reference in the recent literature to this type of lesion. The statistics of Schlesinger show 107 vertebral tumors in 35,000 autopsies (0.32 per cent), while the records from the Heidelberg Clinic, reported by Holm,1 show 14 vertebral tumors in 4,700 autopsies from 1921 to 1926, or 0.29 per cent. Of these, only2 were chondroma. Chondroma of the vertebra is rare, but chondroma of other bones appears to be not unusual. In 18 cases of chondroma observed during a period of seven years at the Mayo Clinic, none was vertebral, while in the 237 cases of chondromas reported by Weber only 1 was located in the vertebral column. None of the investigators report any cases of primary chondromyxosarcoma of the vertebra.
In the case which is the subject of the present discussion, the tumor had