350 M. H. Karsten on Fatty 



wax-cells, erroneously in part regarded as drops, so is the 

 iiecrobiotic product adipocire the production of the metamor- 

 phosis of assimilating membranes of the hysterophjmata which 

 generate this matter. 



I have observed the production of a kind of adipocire in 

 intercostal and lumbar muscles from the pig and rabbit, which 

 were in an atmosphere rich in carbonate of ammonia. 



The production of the fat in the temperature of a room was 

 a verj tedious affair ; it scarcely commenced, in the experi- 

 ments made by me, under a year. The pieces of meat were 

 hung freely in well-stopped vessels containing a little carbonate 

 of ammonia, which was renewed from time to time. The fat 

 thus produced was white, soft, and greasy, and chiefly soluble 

 in ether. Perhaps an air richer in carbonic acid, or a lower 

 temperature, would give rise to the formation of a harder fat 

 more like adipocire. 



During the slow alteration of the tissues composing the 

 muscles there were first of all developed (in four weeks) from 

 the Micrococci^ which soon made tlieir appearance, cylindrical, 

 many-jointed Vihriones [Bacteria) in tissue (cells and fibres) 

 of the flesh ; afterwards the terminal joint-cell of these became 

 spherically inflated (' Chemismus der Pflanzenzelle,' p. 25, 

 fig. V. 4 J), and, indeed, first in those contained in the vessels, 

 subsequently in those in the muscle*; then it became sepa- 

 rated from the other joint-cells, and developed into filiform 

 and chain-like structures [Leptotlirix, Mycotlirix^ Coccus- 

 chains) ; finally these also broke up into thin somewhat enlarged 

 joint-cells, which I saw dissolve away when brought into con- 

 tact with ether upon the object-bearer. In about two years 

 the pieces of muscle were converted into a uniform fatty mass, 

 which, when pressed under the glass cover, emitted oleaginous 

 drops which enveloped numerous vesicles. 



The process is difi'erent in the development of the amyloid, 

 inasmuch as this does not originate from the membrane of the 

 mother cell, {. e. the membrane of the Coccus (= Vibrio) itself, 

 but from that of its daughter cells. The youngest develop- 

 mental stage of the hysterophyma-germs from the normal 

 cell-embryos of the fluid cell-contents of plants and animals 

 contains albumen like the cell-embryos. In diiferent Vibriones 

 &c. formed during the butyric fermentation from fleshy 

 fruits, roots, &c. (cucumbers, potatoes, beetroot, turnip, carrots, 

 Jerusalem artichokes, dahlias), their contents-cells at about 

 25''-35° C. ( = 77°- 95° F.), and with suitable nutritive mate- 

 rials (I found a solution of one half per cent, of phosphate of 



* I have seen a state in which the muscular fibres were completely 

 filled with cylindrical, and the vessels v/ith nail-like Vihriones. 



