PART ii.j Description of the Pale or Ochroid Variety of the Disease. 349 



when the particles were com^essed beneath a cover-glass, appeared as fringes of a 

 feathery aspect surrounding a central mass of amorphous matter, and when a current 

 was induced by the addition of a drop of water to the slide, the crystalline fringes 

 were seen to become bent in the direction of the current, as may be observed in 

 the adjoining woodcut (Fig. 7). Prolonged and careful microscopic examination failed 

 to reveal the presence of any fungoid elements notwith- 

 standing the use of most various reagents. Some of the 

 particles having been first treated with chloroform were 

 immersed in liquor potassaj and kept under observation 

 during several weeks. They appeared at first to be partially 

 dissolved, and were subsequently deposited in the form of 

 a whitish gelatinous layer on the side of the test tube in 

 which they were kept. The material of this layer was found 

 to consist almost entirely of beautiful tubes, filaments, and 

 cysts of myeline of every conceivable form, afifording an Jif^'-i^r^-^^Xe^wfth 



excellent opportunity for the study of the many curious and feathery crystals adherent to 



^^ •/ -^ '' ^ it ; the latter curved at one part 



complex forms which matter of such naturfe is capable of owing to a current being in- 



/  7 -I-.- r^ .-./-/.N duced on the slide, x 100. 



assummg {y^ae rig. 8, page Sob). 



Specimen III. — A foot and ankle-joint (Plate XXVI, Fig. 1). This foot was enormously 

 enlarged transversely, and the toes were shortened, turned upwards, and more or 

 less drawn backwards into the foot, so that the latter presented a peculiarly thick, 

 " stumpy " aspect. The shortening and upturning of the toes were specially marked 

 in the case of the second one, where the distortion had proceeded so far that the tip 

 of the toe projected upwards on the dorsum of the foot ; the nail resting on the 

 dorsal surface of the foot and only becoming visible when the toe was forcibly 

 bent forwards in some degree. On both dorsal and plantar aspects of the foot, 

 there were numerous mammillated projections surrounding orifices of the diameter of 

 crow or goose-quills, which communicated with channels penetrating the substance of 

 the foot, and from which soft granular matter could be forced by pressure. Amputation 

 had been performed through the lower fourth of the leg. 



A section was carried completely through the foot, dividing the tissues from the 

 space between the second and third toes, to the centre of the calcaneum and thence 

 upwards through the astragalus and middle of the tibia. The entire section was 

 performed with a knife from an ordinary dissecting case, which passed through the 

 bones with the greatest ease save towards the upper portion of the tibia, where a 

 certain amount of resistance was experienced and where the bone presented an apparently 

 normal aspect. The disease of the tarsal bones was extremely advanced. The astragalus 

 retained its normal outline, but was extremely open in texture internally, the spaces 

 in the bony tissue being full of yellow oily matter, and here and there containing 

 distinct aggregations of roe-like particles. The greater portion of the front half of 

 the OS calois was reduced to a soft pulp containing irregular excavations bathed in 



