428 MINOT. [Vot. IIL. 
Cut 36. The largest cells are scattered through the compact 
layer, but are most numerous towards the surface. The decid- 
ual cells exhibit great variety in their features, Cut 37; they are 
nearly all oval disks, so that their outlines vary according as they 
happen to lie in the tissue ; they vary greatly in size; the larger 
they are, the more nuclei they contain; but I observe no cells 
with more than ten nuclei. The nuclei are usually more or less 
elongated; the contents of the cells granular. Some of the 
cells present another type ; these are more nearly round, clear, 
and transparent, ¢; the nucleus is round, stained lightly, and 
contains relatively few and small granules; such cells are most 
numerous about the placental margin.1 
§ 19. Uterus twelve hours after abortion at six months. — 
For this specimen, also, I am indebted to Dr. W. W. Gannett. 
The woman was brought into the Boston City Hospital in a 
comatose condition ; the foetus, estimated to be about six months, 
was removed by the forceps ; the mother died twelve hours later ; 
the autopsy by Dr. Gannett showed death to have been caused 
by tubercular meningitis. The uterus is apparently normal; I 
received it in a fresh state, and hardened it in Miiller’s fluid. It 
was already very much contracted; the mucosa measured about 
2mm. in thickness ; its surface was ragged and more or less cov- 
ered with clotted blood, presenting very much the appearance 
so superbly figured by Coste (Développement des Corps organisés, 
Pl. X., Espéce humaine). 
Vertical sections, Cut 38, show that the surfaces of the mu- 
cosa are very uneven ; on the free surface there is a thin layer 
of clotted blood, coag/; the upper or compact layer of the 
decidua has entirely disappeared, leaving only the deep portion, 
D, permeated by numerous large empty spaces, which I take to 
be in part gland cavities, in part blood sinuses, both changed 
from their slit-like form by the contraction of the uterus during 
and since the delivery of the child. Between the spaces are the 
brownish and hyaline cells, and a great many blood-corpuscles, 
which lie throughout the tissue itself as well as in the blood-ves- 
sels. In short, the conditions found agree with those described 
by Leopold as present in the uterus a short time after normal 
delivery at full term, 36, and accordingly, further details con- 
cerning my specimen may be omitted. 
1This and the preceding paragraph are taken with sundry alterations from my 
article on the placenta, /.s.c. 
