483 
‘«* These phenomena, no doubt, much complicate the gene- 
ral process ; but yet we can follow out the morphic changes of 
the original tissues in their passage downwards to decay and 
dissolution, as the practised eye soon learns to detect them, and 
by preparatory study we are enabled to recognise all forms of 
extraneous origin. For a long period the original structures 
retain distinctive characteristics, a circumstance of practical 
importance, as I have before observed. In some tissues the 
series of changes is very simple, and may be readily followed 
throughout : we have an example in adipose tissue, which may 
be detailed by way of illustration. 
** Adipose Tissue.—This substance is capable of being re- 
cognised by the microscope after a very long time, and when 
to the naked sight it has not only lost all its usual physical 
characters, but has assumed a charred and blackened appear- 
ance. I have in my possession a specimen of fatty tissue on a 
glass side, and uncovered, for more than a year and a half, and 
yet it shows the cellular structure perfectly. In a specimen 
almost quite black, taken from textures after seven months’ 
putrefaction, and wholly undistinguishable by ordinary phy- 
sical examination, I have recognised distinctly several groups 
of fat cells. These cells had all undergone a certain amount of 
change, for instead of being clear and transparent, they pre- 
sented finely granular contents, with occasionally a few larger 
corpuscles. This granular infiltration appears to me the first 
change which takes place in the fat cell, and I consider it to 
be owing to the union of its originally homogeneous oily con- 
tents with some form of albuminous compound liberated in 
the histolysis of surrounding tissues, and which has entered 
the cell-wall by endosmose. In other fat cells a still further 
change is indicated, their interior being filled with long deli- 
cate crystals, arranged in stellate masses, the centre of the 
stella corresponding nearly with the centre of the cell, the cell 
wall being still distinctly visible ; in other instances this mem- 
brane appears to have given way, and the masses of crystals 
