280 PROGRESS OF MICROSCOPICAL SCIENCE. 



cases converting the white into the consistency of a strong jelly, and 

 often the filaments grow in such immense numbers as to make the 

 whole contents appear like a hard-boiled egg. This fungus acts on 

 the air exactly like animalcules, absorbing oxygen and liberating 

 carbonic acid gas. — The Medical liecord, Sept. 9th. 



Effects of Section of Motor Nerves on 3Iuscle. — Bizzozero and 

 Golgi* give an account of an experiment they made upon a rabbit 

 when six months old. On the 10th January they cut out a con- 

 siderable piece of the sciatic nerve. The tibio-tarsal joint of the side 

 operated on became thickened, and an ulcer formed upon the surface 

 in the course of a month. The lymphatic glands swelled. The 

 animal, however, retained tolerable health till the 20th August, when 

 a portion of the cruial nerve was excised on the same side. The 

 rabbit remained pretty well till the 9th November, when the ulcer 

 began to increase and assume an imhealthy aspect, and in December 

 it died, having previously become exceedingly thin. On post-mortem 

 examination the connective tissue of the whole lower extremity was 

 found to be infiltrated with serum, ulcers had formed at various 

 points, and beneath these were cheesy deposits, each of which was 

 surrounded by a dense caj^sule of connective tissue. The stumi)s of 

 the divided nerves were separated from each other by a considerable 

 interval. The superficial muscles of the thigh presented a j^ale-rose 

 colour, whilst the deeper ones were of a yellowish red. The suj)er- 

 ficial muscles of the lower leg were in general greyish red, but in 

 parts yellowish ; they felt hard and were easily torn. The deep 

 muscles had undergone some thickening, and had a iiniform yellowish 

 colour ; on section they appeared smooth and uniform, the surface of 

 the section resembling bacon-fat. Microscopical examination showed 

 that in the superficial muscles of the thigh there were scattered 

 groups of fat-cells arranged in linear series, which apparently corre- 

 sponded with the course of the nerve-fibres. The muscular fibres of 

 the deep muscles of the thigh were thinned, the transverse strise 

 scarcely visible, and between the muscular fasciculi of the first and 

 second order were numerous and very well defined fat-cells. In other 

 parts the muscular substance of the several fibres was partly torn into 

 fragments and partly replaced by fat-cells. The superficial muscles 

 of the lower leg presented in a very marked manner the usual con- 

 sequences of nerve section — namely, proliferation of nuclei in the 

 muscle-corpuscles, atrophy of the muscular fibres themselves, increase 

 of the interstitial connective tissue, and numerous fat-cells between 

 the muscular fibres. Lastly, in the deep muscles of the lower 

 extremity, where the muscles were yellowish and like bacon on 

 section, no trace of muscular fibre was visible ; the tissue appeared 

 to be altogether converted into adipose tissue, comparable to the 

 I)anuiculus adiposus. In transverse sections the fat-cells were 

 rounded or polyhedric, and fcjrmed a kind of mosaic. In longi- 

 tudinal sections they were serially arranged in correspondence with 

 the direction of the fasciculi. — The Lancet, Aug. 30th. 



* Strieker's ' Jahrb.,' 1873, Heft 1. 



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