636 



DI3CHAKGE OF THE OVUM. 



to undergo a fatty degeneration. (Fig. 233.) Their granules be- 

 come larger and more prominent, and very soon assume the 

 appearance of molecules of fat, deposited in the substance of the 

 fibre. The fatty deposit, thus commenced, increases in abundance, 

 and the molecules continue to enlarge until they become converted 

 into fully formed oil-globules, which fill the interior of the fibre 



more or less completely, 

 and mask, to a certain ex- 

 tent, its anatomical cha- 

 racters. (Fig. 234.) The 

 universal fatty degenera- 

 tion, thus induced, gives to 

 the uterus a softer consist- 

 ency, and a pale yellowish 

 color which is characteristic 

 of it at this period. The 

 muscular fibres which have 

 become altered by the fatty 

 deposit are afterward gra- 

 dually absorbed and disap- 

 pear; their place being 

 subsequently taken by 

 other fibres of new forma- 

 tion, which already begin 



to make their appearance before the old ones have been completely 

 destroyed. As this process goes on, it results finally in a complete 

 renovation of the muscular substance of the uterus. The organ 

 becomes again reduced in size, compact in tissue, and of a pale 

 ruddy hue, as in the ordinary unimpregnated condition. This entire 

 renewal or reconstruction of the uterus is completed, according to 

 Heschl. 1 about the end of the second month after delivery. 



MUSCULAR FIBRES OF II UMAX UTERUS, three 

 weeks after parturition ; from a woman dead of peri- 

 tonitis. 



1 Op. cit. 



