364 MINOT. [Vou. II. 
the interior of the uterus they form a discrete envelope around 
each vessel, the spaces between the perivascular coats being 
occupied by simple connective tissue cells. The glands which 
at nine days, Fig. 4, were so bulky and conspicuous, have almost 
completely disappeared, being now represented only by remnants 
of multinucleate hyaline matter scattered superficially, and easily 
recognized by their distinctive and conspicuous coloration: 
some of these remnants are still united with the surface. The 
epithelium is in two forms: on the half of the peri-placental sur- 
face towards the placenta it is entirely in the phase of degenera- 
tion, while over the other half it is already reconstituted as irreg- 
ular cylinder epithelium, the cells of which are more or less 
separated from one another, and somewhat variable in height ; 
this epithelium stops abruptly near the middle of the peri- 
placenta and is replaced towards the placenta by a hyaline 
nucleated layer occasionally thickened into a lump, where the 
nuclei are clustered; the cylinder epithelium is deeply stained 
by the cochineal; the hyaline epithelium has a marked color from 
the eosine, and its nuclei are dark with cochineal. The glands 
are further resorbed under the cylinder epithelium than nearer 
the placenta. 
The ob-placenta is now characterized by the disappearance of 
its degenerated epithelium, by the fusion of the epithelium of 
the deep portions of its glands into a new continuous layer, and 
by the development of peculfir monster cells in its central area 
facing the placenta. The resorption of the epithelium by vacu- 
olization has already been described in the account of the nine 
days’ uterus, § 3. The epithelium, Fig. 6, g/, is everywhere 
re-formed as a continuous layer; portions, Fig. 6, 4.e, of the 
degenerated layer remain especially near the peri-placenta, but 
for the most part the new epithelium is entirely uncovered, and 
in the central region it has grown, so that the glands are already 
deepened. But the most remarkable feature is the accumulation, 
opposite the placenta, where the mucosa is much thickened, of 
the curious bodies, to which I apply the term monster cells. They 
are round or oval masses many times the size of any other histo- 
logical element of the uterus or embryo, and possess huge nuclei. 
They are shown in Fig. 17, which represents them at a later stage, 
when they are further enlarged. I regard these bodies as de- 
tached epithelial cells, undergoing degenerative hypertrophy. In 
