THE PSYSIOLOCfY OP POISONlNCf 183 



In animals which have lived for a long time after being poisoned, 

 lesion^ of the bile-dticts are also found. The epithelial cells have 

 undergone fatty degeneration, or else, in the case of small animals, 

 the ducts appear infiltrated with small mononuclear cells, which 

 penetrate between the epithelial cells of the canaliculi. Sometimes 

 also the latter cells are distended, and enclose large vacuoles. 



Venom thus produces in the liver lesions of fatty degeneration, 

 or necrosis, and an infiltration of the bile-ducts by lymphatic cells. 



(2) Action upon the Kidney. 



The changes in the kidney are also very extensive. The three 

 portions of the glomerulus often exhibit lesions; the vessels of 

 the tuft show ectasia ; their walls are sometimes ruptured, and 

 the blood is extravasated into the capsular cavity. The latter 

 is filled with a granular exudation, which varies in amount with 

 the slowness of the intoxication. The epithelial lining of Bowman's 

 capsule is swollen ; the nucleus stains badly (Vaillant-Hovius). 



In the tubuli contorti the lesions in the cells greatly resemble 

 those seen in the liver. Granulations and vacuoles appear, and 

 the nucleus becomes diffuse. The lumens of the tubules are filled 

 with necrosed cells, and the branches of Henle arejfound to be 

 similarly obliterated. 



In the straight tubes and in the collecting tubes the epithelium 

 is sometimes detached in its entirety. Some of these canals are 

 obliterated by granular cylinders or by accumulations of epithelial 

 cells. 



The vessels met with in the parenchyma of the kidney are 

 always greatly distended, and sometimes they are torn, whence 

 there results the formation of small foci of interstitial haemorrhage. 

 In many cases the extravasated blood also destroys the parenchyma. 



(3) Action upon the Spleen, Heart, and Lungs. 



In the spleen, Nowak merely found a little fatty degeneration, 

 and only in cases in which the lesions in the liver and kidneys 



