THEIR MICRO-CHEMICAL RELATIONS. 81 



somewhat obliquely to the axis of the muscular bundle, we 

 remark detached lamellae arranged upon one another in such a 

 manner that the muscular cylinder or bundle appears to consist of 

 plates or discs superimposed on one another. The sarcolemma, 

 which we can often distinctly recognise here, remains as free from 

 colour as the interspersed connective tissue. 



A moderately dilute solution of carbonate of potash renders the 

 muscles hard and rigid, as was especially shown by Virchow. On 

 making a microscopical examination of muscle that has been 

 hardened in this manner, the bundles are observed to be some- 

 what swollen, presenting no appearance of longitudinal striae ; the 

 transverse striae are fine and sharply defined ; the cut surfaces of 

 the bundles are generally very distinct ; but wherever the prepa- 

 ration has been torn or pressed in its adaptation for microscopical 

 purposes, the extremities exhibit exfoliated and partly somewhat 

 recurved lamellae; but I have never succeeded in obtaining the 

 round laminae in the isolated state in which Bowman has obtained 

 his discs (as, at least, would appear from his diagrams). Pieces 

 frequently presented themselves resembling sections of concentri- 

 cally arranged circles ; the lamellae were in some cases only faintly 

 granulated on their broad surfaces, in others sharply punctated. 

 The sarcolemma was indistinct ; no nuclei were visible. 



After the prolonged action (varying from eight to seventy-two 

 hours) of an extremely dilute solution of soda (consisting of one part 

 of the alkali in 8500 parts of water), the muscle was reduced to a 

 thoroughly gelatinous mass ; the primitive bundles were for the 

 most part dissolved, and those which were not thoroughly dissolved 

 exhibited a faint longitudinal striation, caused by the regular 

 deposition of granules in rows, so that the whole resembled tuber- 

 culous, stringy, bronchial mucus, which, on the addition of water, 

 frequently exhibits a similar appearance of granules, arranged so 

 as to imitate fibres. There was not a trace of nuclei, or of trans- 

 verse or longitudinal striation. Here and there were remarked 

 empty portions of sarcolemma, which appeared either perfectly 

 hyaline or faintly granulated, and bore a close resemblance to the 

 hyaline cylinders in the urine in Bright's disease, which corres- 

 pond to the membrana propria of the tubes of Bellini. It is 

 worthy of notice that these cylinders of sarcolemma have generally 

 a much smaller diameter than the original primitive bundles, 

 which furnishes a proof of the great elasticity of the sarcolemma, 

 and of its close approximation in its normal state to the cylindrical 

 bundles of fibrils. The elements of the perimysium admit, moreover, 



VOL. in. G 



