FATTY METAMORPHOSIS. 



381 



wards become worn away (usurirt), and acquire a slightly 

 velvety appearance, without there being any ulceration 



in the proper sense of the word. This is a particular 

 form of fatty usure which occurs in many parts, as for 

 example in articular cartilages, and even on the surface 

 of mucous membranes, for example, that of the stomach 

 (Fox). But at no time does the matter accumulate in 

 such abundance as is the case in abcesses which have 

 undergone fatty degeneration. If, on the other hand, a 

 similar process commences beneath the surface, as in 

 the atheromatous process, the fatty degeneration then 

 proceeds from below upwards, and the surface is not 

 reached until the last. By softening, the so-called athe- 

 romatous deposit (Heerd*) is produced, which contains a 

 softened mass resembling the contents of atheromata 

 [sebaceous, f or epidermic, cysts] of the skin, in which 



Fig. 113. Fatty degeneration of cerebral arteries. A. Fatty metamorphosis of the 

 muscular cells of the circular-fibre coat. B. Formation of fat-granule cells in the 

 connective-tissue-corpuscles of the internal coat. 300 diameters. 



* Heerd (hearth) in the sense in which it is here employed, has no precise equiva- 

 lent in English, although it exactly corresponds to the French foyer. " It denotes," 

 says the Author, " the spot, where the fire of the disease burns, but expresses at the 

 same time that this spot is a limited one." I have therefore translated it by various 

 words, such as deposit, depot, seat (of the disease), collection, patch (atheromatous), 

 focus, &c. TRANSL. 



f These cysts are wrongly called sebaceous, inasmuch as they are essentially 

 epidermic, and are generally derived, not from the sebaceous glands, but from the 

 hair-follicles. The atheromatous matter is in these cases chiefly composed of degene- 

 rated and disintegrated epithelium. from a MS. Note by the Author. 



