230 THE MICROSCOPIST. 



(4.) Fatty infiltration. This is different from fatty 

 metamorphosis, which is so common that infiltration may 

 be presumed to be frequent. In fatty metamorphosis the 

 globules are more numerous, but do not run together as 

 in infiltration. The presence of soda compounds of bile 

 ill the blood, forming an emulsion with fat, may lead to 

 infiltration, as chyme yields it in the intestine, or as liver- 

 cells absorb it from the serum of the blood. Fat is some- 

 times removed from one place by metastasis to be depos- 

 ited in another. 



2. Degeneration. (1.) Fatty degeneration is a meta- 

 morphosis of the bioplasm, marked by fat-globules in its 

 interior. Thus in dropsy of the pericardium the epithe- 

 lial cells first exhibit fat-globules, which by their aggre- 

 gation in the albuminous matter enlarge the cell into a 

 globular mass of granules. Grluge first called these " in- 

 flammatory corpuscles," but they are now known as fatty 

 degenerated epithelium or granular corpuscles. These 

 disintegrate to a fatty detritus. A large amount of 

 granular corpuscles give the suspending fluid a yellowish 

 color. The appearance of colostrum, on the first secre- 

 tion of the mammae, is due to this. By standing, it sepa- 

 rates into a serous fluid and cream-like mass, the latter 

 consisting of granular (colostrum) corpuscles. 



The last act of fatty degeneration may be termed lacti- 

 fication. At the beginning of disintegration the Bruno- 

 nian movement may be observed. Fats are finally partly 

 saponified and partly separated in solid form, rnargarin 

 and cholesterin. 



In fatty degeneration of muscle we observe varicose 

 fibrils or detritus, which render the strise indistinct, or 

 fill the sarcolemma with fluid. 



Fatty metamorphosis is the regular mode of decompo- 

 sition for tissues liable to rapid change, especially epithe- 

 lium. Decreased nutrition may produce it, especially in 

 non-vascular tissues, as in the cells of laryngeal cartilage, 



