400 S. MORGULIS, PAUL E. HOWE AND P. B. HAWK. 



The submaxillary gland presents a few changes which are 

 worth pointing out. The protoplasm of its cells, as was seen 

 also in other gland cells, is thin in character and fails to take up 

 the stain. Many cells are without nuclei, and the darkly stained 

 crescent cells though present are generally flattened out and cap 

 the outside of the alveoli like a narrow band. Fig. 4 shows that 

 the submaxillary gland at the fatal termination of a protracted 

 fast has all the appearance of a resting gland. 



The most interesting set of modifications is to be observed in 

 the kidneys. There one encounters various forms of degenera- 

 tion and their distribution in the kidney is quite significant. 

 We have already mentioned in discussing the changes in the 

 liver that the extent of the degeneration of the histological 

 elements apparently bears no relation to the death of the fasting 

 animal as one of its direct causes. This statement holds equally 

 true for the kidneys, where we found likewise a very wide range 

 of modifications at the time of the animal's death. 



The glomerulus has the usual lobulated structure but the 

 Bowman capsule enclosing it is invariably thickened as in the 

 case of nephritic kidneys. The cells of the convoluted tubules 

 have a coarsely granular content and are invariably vacuolated. 

 In some instances the vacuolization is so extensive as to give 

 the tubule a striking honeycombed appearance. In Fig. 5 

 which is from a section of the kidney of the fox, this is shown 

 very clearly. Similarly Fig. 6, which represents a section of a 

 tubule in the kidney of a fasting dog, shows extensive vacuoliza- 

 tion and the absence of boundaries between the cells. This last 

 phenomenon, namely, the formation of a syncitium is char- 

 acteristic not only of the kidney but also of the liver where the 

 cells seem to melt together. In the ascending and descending 

 limb of Henle's loop, however, vacuolization is a very rare 

 occurrence, particularly in the later. The tubules were generally 

 very granular in structure and contained frequently casts of 

 various kinds, cellular, hyaline, etc. Fig. 5 is interesting further- 

 more on account of the well-preserved ciliated band lining the 

 lumen of the tubule. The nuclei of the tubules are small and 

 more or less irregular in shape. The cells of the collecting tubules 

 show hardly any effect. The protoplasmic content is very clear 



