176 LECTURE VII. 



tion, and if we afterwards find a coloured cicatrix at the 

 spot, we may feel perfectly assured that the colour is 

 dependent upon the presence of haematoidine. When 

 a young woman menstruates, and the cavity of the 

 Graafian vesicle, from which the ovum has been ex- 

 truded, becomes filled with coagulated blood, the haema- 

 tine is gradually converted into haematoidine, and we 

 afterwards find at the spot where the ovum had lain, the 

 beautiful deep-red colour of the haematoidine crystals, 

 which remain as the last memorials of this episode. In 

 this manner we can count the number of apoplectic 

 attacks, or calculate how often a young girl has menstru- 

 ated. Every extravasation may leave behind its little con- 

 tingent of haematoidine crystals, and these, once formed, 



remain in the interior of the organ, in the shape of 

 compact bodies endowed with the greatest powers of 

 resistance. 



With respect to the peculiarities of haematoidine, it has, 

 in a theoretical point of view, another special claim to 



Fig. 54. Pigment from an apoplectic cicatrix in the brain (' Archiv,' vol. i, pp. 

 401, 454, plate iii, fig. 7). a. Blood-corpuscles which have become granular and 

 are in process of decolorization. b. Cells from the neuroglia, some of them pro- 

 vided with granular and crystalline pigment, c. Pigment-granules, d. Crystals of 

 Haematoidine. /. Obliterated vessel with its former channel filled with granular and 

 crystalline red pigment. 300 diameters. 



