THE LIVER. 



703 



pigment in the liver epithelia is very limited, although specula- 

 tions on this point are numerous. 



Waxy degeneration is likewise often observed in the liver-tissue, 

 principally in persons who for years before death suffered from 

 exhausting disease, such as syphilis, tuberculosis, nephritis, pro- 

 fuse suppuration, etc. The increase in the size and weight of 

 such livers, and their lardaceous appearance, are well known ; but 

 neither the cause nor the intimate nature of the waxy metamor- 

 phosis are understood. The microscope reveals that the epithelia 

 and the connective tissue are reduced into medullary corpuscles, or 



FIG. 315. WAXY DEGENERATION OF THE LIVER. 



D, bile-duct; C, interstitial connective-tissue, with plastids, partly unchanged, partly 

 waxy ; E, liver epithelia breaking down into medullary corpuscles ; W, liver epithelia in com- 

 plete waxy metamorphosis. Magnified 500 diameters. 



the epithelia transformed into clusters, with faint traces of medul- 

 lary corpuscles, before the infiltration with, or the transformation 

 into, waxy material takes place. Further studies are needed to 

 throw more light upon the nature of this change. (See Fig. 315.) 



YELLOW ATROPHY OF THE LIVER. BY J. A. ROCKWELL, NEW YORK.* 



Dr. Heitzmann handed me for examination pieces from the livers of 

 two persons, exhibiting distinct signs of yellow atrophy. One of the cases 



* "Microscopical Studies in Yellow Atrophy of the Liver." The New England Medical 



Gazette, 1882. 



