DEGENERATION OF THE HEART. 113 



usual hluish-ichite colour, with the dark outline, are seen inside 

 the sarcolemma along with the fine gramilar deposit. The fat, 

 or oil- drops, from the largest to the smallest (fig. 3 b), become 

 beautifully conspicuous on addition of acetic acid, and so do the 

 granular-yellowish and green corpuscles (fig, 3 a), which thereby 

 manifest themselves as being a distinct deposit, and not a 

 deposit of fat, as encountered in what is commonly called 

 fatty degeneration (fig. 3). 



A small specimen boiled in ether showed the solubility of 

 all the ffit globules in ether, since the granular-yellowish and 

 green deposit remained unchanged. On the ether cooling 

 and acetic acid being added, oil-globules were precipitated 

 again. They adhered to certain projecting parts, or along 

 the nerve fibres, which had the appearance represented in 

 fig. 5, evidently from the fat of the contents of the fibre 

 having been dissolved and deposited again out of the solution 

 against the walls of the fibre. Before boiling with ether the 

 nerves had the usual appearance represented in fig. 4. This 

 proves that mere boiling with ether is not suflficient to remove 

 all fat, but that subsequent washing with repeated small 

 portions of hot ether is necessary in order to remove all fatty 

 matter. The few drops of ether in which the specimen had 

 been boiled, which were clear when hot, became turbid after 

 cooling, and under the microscope showed myriads of oil- 

 globules of a more equal size, and molecules, of which the 

 globules were being formed. None of the oil-globules depo- 

 sited from the ether were tinged in any way, and the mus- 

 cular fibres retained their greenish tinge after boiling, and 

 preserved unchanged the yellowish or green deposit. This 

 peculiar degeneration of the lieart has been observed by 

 VVedl ('Elements of Pathological Histology' pp. 171, 227), 

 and by Kolliker, quoted by Wedl. Both call the deposit 

 jngment, on account of its "dirty-yellowish" colour. What 

 relation there exists between this pigment and " the tapering 

 groups of small, isolated, yellowish granules," seen at either 

 end of the nuclei of the fibres of any healthy heart, as de- 

 scribed by Mr. Paget (' Surgical Pathology,' vol. i., p. 128), 

 is a question to be answered by further investigation. 



The report on my first specimen given to the Pathological 

 Society by Drs. Plabershon and Bristowe, and j)rinted at 

 pages 142 and 143 of the ' Transactions,' though admitting 

 the correctness, on the whole, of my description of the micro- 

 scopic appearances, is to the effect that the specimen de- 

 scribed by me does not differ from the ordinary run of cases 

 of fatty degeneration. The reporters did not find the 

 molecular deposit greener than the fibres, and the latter pre- 



VOL. IV. I 



