Although many tissues of the body are commonly transplanted and recognized to retain their viability and regenerative power, comparatively little is known of the histogenetic properties in transplanted bone.
The object of this series of experiments was an attempt to determine whether autoplastic cortical bone when grafted into cortical bone in its normal relationship becomes a living integral part of the skeleton or whether it simply acts as a temporary scaffold for the deposit of new bone cells that fills in the defect with new bone.
By microscopic examination alone it is impossible to determine whether the transplant has lived in bulk or whether it has died and served only as a framework for the deposit of new bone.
In botany, where plant life easily lends itself to this variety of experimentation, it is positively proved in tree grafting that the graft lives in bulk, grows and produces limb and