PART II.] Description of the Pale or Ochroid Variety of the Disease. 351 



with the cavities opened on the mammillations previously alluded to as occurring 

 on the integument of the foot. The lining membrane of the channels and cavities 

 — ^whether occupying the subcutaneous or interstitial adipose tissue, or the sites of 

 disintegrated bone — was throughout the same ; and on microscopic examination was 

 found to consist of connective tissue abounding more or less in elastic fibres. 



The various modifications of fatty matter above described could be seen to merge 

 into one another by insensible degrees throughout the preparation. In some loculi 

 individual lobules of fat had passed more or less completely into the ceruminous 

 condition, whilst the remaining ones were to all appearance perfectly normal, and 

 in those cavities in which all normal fat had disappeared the contents shaded off 

 gradually from yellowish, ceruminous, amorphous masses through a series of 

 intermediate forms into the characteristic roe-like particles. Apparently a still 

 further stage of the degeneration was represented by specimens of the latter, which, 

 in place of their normal yellowish colour and waxy consistence, presented a glistening 

 white colour and friable texture, and resembled, when in mass, small lumps of chalk. 

 It will be seen that, in so far as the unaided senses were concerned, no hard and 

 fast line could be drawn between the normal fat of the tissues at one end of the 

 series of modified forms and the thoroughly degenerate chalky masses at the other, 

 for an almost infinite series of intermediate steps was present. The same held good 

 on careful microscopic examinations also. Starting with normal masses of fat, the 

 series could be traced through gradual stages in which the contents of the cells 

 became more or less completely condensed into waxy amorphous mass, whilst the cell 

 walls became more and more obscured until a uniform mass of the former, still 

 retaining a somewhat cellular arrangement, was all that remained. From this the 

 series proceeded through a set of forms characterised by increasing condensation of 

 the material and the appearance of feathery crystals on the surface passing on into 

 the characteristic fringed roe-like particles (Fig. 7, p. 349), and culminating in the 

 chalky masses of acicular crystals. 



All the varieties of morbid material present in this case were carefully ransacked 

 with the aid of the most various reagents and appliances, with the view of ascertaining 

 the presence of any vegetable organisms or other foreign bodies as constituents of 

 them, but entirely in vain. It was quite clear that in this case, at all events, we 

 had merely to deal with a degeneration of the normal constituents of the tissues, 

 unassociated with, and uncomplicated by, the presence of any extraneous elements. 



Specimen IV. — This consisted of a portion of skin and subcutaneous tissue from 

 the sole of the foot in a case where the diseased condition was limited to the 

 textures between the plantar fascia and the integument of the sole of the foot. 



There were numerous slight elevations on the surface of the skin, beneath 

 which minute dark-coloured points could be seen. These were hard to the touch, 

 and in some cases small openings could be detected leading inwards towards them 

 from the surface. On dissecting down upon them these points were found to consist 



