

INFLAMMATION. 427 



ment-clusters originate, which may still remain connected with 

 the unchanged Moplasson ; and if the granules are present in large 

 numbers they may conceal the nucleus of the plastid, which, as a 

 rule, both in physiological and pathological pigment formations, 

 remains unchanged. (See Fig. 177.) All varieties of tissues may 

 become the seat of pigmentary degeneration, and it is evident, par- 

 ticularly in melanotic cancer, that both the connective tissue and 

 the newly formed epithelial plastids are more or less abundantly 

 supplied with granules and clusters of coloring matter. Bust- 

 brown pigmentation is sometimes observed in the sarcous elements 

 of striated muscles, in the gray substance, and the ganglionic cor- 

 puscles of the nerve-centers, independently of former haemorrhage. 

 The fact that it is the living matter itself which is transformed 

 into pigment, facilitates the understanding of the very rapid 

 disappearance of pigment f. i., from the epithelia of the skin 

 and the medullary tissue of the hair-bulb. 



Waxy degeneration. In chronic ailments, such as syphilis, pro- 

 fuse suppuration, caries of bone, etc., and in the placenta even in 

 apparently healthy women, a peculiar change of the tissues, called 

 waxy, takes place, which leads to an increase of bulk, a paling of 

 their color, due to compression and obliteration of blood-vessels, 

 and an increase of weight and consistence. There is a general 

 appearance of the tissue similar to that of wax or lard ; hence the 

 term " lardaceous," which is also used to designate this change. 

 Unquestionably, this degeneration is due to a chemical change of 

 the plasma of blood, as it is sometimes found in hagmorrhagic 

 clots, independent of, or combined with, analogous tissue changes. 

 What this change really consists in we do not know, and it is a 

 mere hypothesis of Dickinson's to call the waxy substance " de- 

 alkalized fibrine." 



The appearance of waxy degeneration varies in different 

 tissues and organs. The chemical reactions are not always 

 the same ; neither are the stainings with carmine and ani- 

 line colors always productive of the same results. The myxom- 

 atous variety of connective tissue is not infrequently the seat 

 of waxy degeneration. (See article on waxy degeneration of 

 the placenta.) In certain diseases the medullary tissue of 

 bone is invaded by this change, which leads to the formation 

 of globules termed " colloid corpuscles," which are remarkably 

 unresponsive to the usually destructive action of acids and alka- 

 lies. (See article on osteomalacia.) In the myxomatous tissue 

 of the thymus body such homogeneous or concentrically^ striated 



