AUTOLYSIS IN PATHOLOGICAL PROCESSES 99 



rus livers in proportion to the total nitrogen, indicating that 

 the proteid-splitting enzyme in this condition either picks out 

 certain varieties of proteids first, or removes the nitrogen-rich 

 constituents most rapidly. 



It is probable that many poisons may destroy the liver cells 

 to such an extent that they cannot maintain their normal chem- 

 ical equilibrium, without, at the same time, destroying the 

 autolytic enzymes. When this occurs, the liver undergoes 

 autolysis, and we get marked degenerative changes with appear- 

 ance of amino-acids in the blood and urine, reduction in coagu- 

 lability of the blood and numerous hemorrhages, giving a picture 

 both clinically and anatomically more or less like that of typical 

 acute yellow atrophy. Chloroform is a poison that stops cell 

 activities without destroying the proteolytic enzymes, hence the 

 cells undergo autolysis, and, as a result, we have many cases of 

 what appears to be acute yellow atrophy following chloroform 

 anesthesia. (See " Acute Yellow Atrophy," Chap, xviii.) Prob- 

 ably the liver changes in puerperal eclampsia, and in strepto- 

 coccus and other septicemias are of a similar nature. 1 



Postmortem changes are undoubtedly due to two fac- 

 tors, bacterial action and autolysis. In tissues kept at a low 

 enough temperature to exclude bacterial action, but not so low 

 as to absolutely stop enzyme action, there occurs a slow autol- 

 ysis ; this constitutes the " ripening " process of meat. Fish 

 flesh may also ripen when made sterile in saturated salt solutions, 

 as Schmidt-Nielsen 2 has shown occurs with salted herrings, 

 oxy-acids and xanthin bases being prominent among the prod- 

 ucts. The softening of muscles in rigor mortis is probably also 

 an autolytic manifestation, as muscles contain proteases acting 

 best in acid medium, and the muscle is known to become increas- 

 ingly acid after circulation ceases within it. The short duration 

 of rigor mortis when the body is kept warm, and its early dis- 

 appearance when death has been preceded by muscular exhaus- 

 tion (which increases the acidity), agree with this view. The 

 early postmortem softening of many organs in pathological 

 conditions is also probably an autolytic manifestation. Flexner 3 

 has called attention to this in relation to the softening of the 

 parenchymatous organs in acute infectious diseases, such as 

 typhoid and septicemia. Schumm 4 noted great autolytic activ- 

 ity in a swollen spleen from a case of perityphlitis. 



Histological changes are produced by autolysis in the organs 



1 Wells, Jour. Amer. Med. Assoc., 1906 (46). 341. 



2 Hofmeister's Beitrage, 1903 (3), 267. 



3 Loc. cit. 4 Loc. cit., infra. 



