392 RETROGRESSIVE CHANGES 



Fiirtli and Lenk.-- When sufficient acid is formed in the muscle 

 the swelling may be so great that the structure of the muscle cell is 

 destroyed entirely, and it goes into the condition of "waxj- degenera- 

 tion."-'^ This readih' explains why the time of appearance of rigor 

 is so modified by the amount of muscle metabolism before death. It 

 is, indeed, possible to produce rigor in living animals by transfusing 

 a limb with slightly acid salt solution,-* and in strychnine-poisoning 

 the muscular spasm may pass imperceptibly into rigor mortis. 



It has been suggested that the disappearance of rigor mortis depends 

 upon beginning autolj'sis of the clot by the intracellular proteases of 

 the muscle, which act best in an acid medium, but proteoses and pep- 

 tones cannot be found in such muscle. It is improbable that the de- 

 gree of acidity ever becomes so high that the myosin is redissolved 

 through a conversion into acid albumin (syntonin), as was formerly 

 supposed. V. Fiirth holds that the re-solution of the rigor is caused 

 by coagulation of the proteins, thus reducing this hydrophilic tend- 

 ency, a view in harmony with recent developments in colloid chemis- 

 try.-^ 



"Waxy" degeneration of muscles, although usually resulting from 

 the action of toxic substances, is entirely different from cloudj- swell- 

 ing, in that the cytoplasm has become homogeneous and not granular. 

 This is undoubtedly due to the increased accumulation of acid which 

 takes place in muscles when they suffer from a defective oxygen sup- 

 ply, for I have found it possible to produce the tj'pical appearance 

 of Zenker's waxy degeneration by letting weak solutions of lactic 

 or other acids act on muscle fibers.-^^ Even excessive stimulation of 

 muscles was found to be sufficient to cause waxy degeneration, the 

 acid being formed faster than it can be removed.-*^ 



INIuscles showing the ' ' reaction of degeneration ' ' have been analyzed 

 by Rumpf and Schumm,-^ who found a great increase in the fatty 

 matter, which was about fifteen times the normal amount. The muscle^ 

 deducting the fat, showed a loss of solid matter and an increase of 

 water; sodium and calcium were increased, potassium decreased. 

 There is also a great relative increase in the proportion of phosphorus. 



22Biochcm. Zeit., 1011 (33), 341; Wien. klin. Woch., 1!U1 (24), 1070. 



23 Wells, Jour. Exper. Med., 1000 (11), 1. 



24 The hardness of a linili from which the blood-supply has been shut ofl' by 

 tlirombosis or einbolisin, and also much of the cramp-like i)ain. is probably due 

 to rijror mortis in the muscles caused by acid formation under conditions of 

 sub-oxidation. 



25 Corroborated bv Lentz, Zeit. anpew. Chem., 1012 (25), 1513: and Schwarz, 

 Biochem. Zeit., 1012 (37), 35. 



2'ia Jour. Exper. ]\Icd., 1000 (11), 1. Corroborated bv Steinmler, \irc]io\v"s 

 Arch., 1014 (21fi), 57. 



2" As this work antedates much of the recent work on the influence of acids of 

 metabolic origin upon the swelling of cell structures, attention nuiy be called to 

 the fact that a preliminary report of these experiments was made in the first, 

 edition of this book, written in 100(i. 



27 Deut. Zeit. f. Nervenheilk., 1001 (20), 445. 



