434 INFLAMMATION. 



WAXY DEGENERATION OF THE BRAIN. BY JOHN A. EOCKWELL, M. D.* 



The pathology of the central nervous system has as yet been very little 

 elucidated, for the simple reason that its minute anatomy has not as yet been 

 fully understood. 



The reticulum in the gray substance, first described by J. Gerlach, and by 

 L. Mauthner, twenty years ago, has been considered to be nervous in nature, 

 as both observers saw this reticulum in direct communication with axis-cylin- 

 ders. Quite recently, however, this assertion has been contradicted by S. 

 Strieker and L. Unger, who claim that the reticulum is an elongation of the 

 pia mater, and therefore of connective-tissue nature. So far as my experience 

 goes, I must coincide with the views held by Gerlach and Mauthner. I invari- 

 ably succeeded in staining the reticulum. of the gray substance violet with a 

 solution of chloride of gold, the same as the nuclei which are scattered 

 throughout the gray matter, and the ganglionic elements, whose nervous 

 nature cannot be questioned. Moreover, I saw the reticulum in connection 

 with axis-cylinders, which we also know to be positively nervous elements. 



It seems to me that the question, What is connective tissue, and what is 

 nervous structure in the gray substance ? will never be definitely answered, 

 as the connective-tissue offshoots of the pia mater, upon reaching the finest 

 ramifications, lose their basis-substance and become bioplasson in nature, the 

 same as the nervous structure itself. C. Wedl was the first to maintain 

 that a waxy degeneration may invade the capillary blood-vessels, resulting in 

 the formation of shining, homogeneous cords, ramifying like blood-vessels 

 and freely supplied with pedunculated, bud-like, stratified projections. 



The amylaceous corpuscles have, for a long time, been known to occur in 

 the gray substance of the central nervous system, where they represent bright, 

 stratified, apparently structureless masses, containing sometimes in their cen- 

 tral portion an unaltered plastid. Such corpuscles are so common, both in the 

 gray substance of the brain and the spinal cord, and in the arachnoid of each, 

 that some histologists have asserted that they were normal formations. They 

 occur either singly or in double or multiple formations, clustered and partly 

 coalesced. Their designation, " amylaceous," originated with Virchow, who, 

 upon applying iodine and dilute sulphuric acid, could in some instances pro- 

 duce a bluish tinge of these corpuscles. Upon the authority of Virchow the 

 name " amylaceous corpuscles" has been accepted, although the bluish color 

 after treatment with iodine which feature reminded Virchow of starch cor- 

 puscles of plants by later observers could not, or only in a very slight 

 degree, be produced. Evidently, the bluish color, wherever it occurs, is noth- 

 ing but the complementary color of these highly refracting bodies to the yel- 

 low-brown neighborhood after the application of iodine. I consider this 

 re-agent of no value. 



What the intimate nature of the amylaceous corpuscles, or the waxy 

 degeneration in general, is, we do not know. This much is certain, that the 

 formation of these corpuscles, as well as the waxy degeneration itself, is 

 closely connected with chemical alteration of the plasma of the blood, inas- 

 much as in almost all instances the waxy change is known to first invade the 

 blood-vessels. In the spleen and the kidneys the muscle-coat of the small 



* Abstract of the paper, by John A. Rockwell, "A Contribution to the Pathology of the 

 Brain." The New England Medical Gazette, March, 1882. 



