84 PRELIMINARY COLD STORAGE STUDIES. 



the microscope, has an exceedingly blotchy appearance, in some 

 places showing clear yellow or orange-yellow segments in a fiber which 

 is only banded with green. The cross markings are sharp and clear. 



The longitudinal separation of the fibrillee is still very prominent, 

 but even more marked is the tendency of the muscle to break into 

 short lengths, or, if not absolutely to break apart, to show bands of 

 amorphous material which apparently lie inside of the sarcolemma 

 and which have lost all semblance to characteristic striated muscle 

 tissue. (Plate X, fig. 1.) 



The cross section of the soaked muscle is quite different from the 

 cross section of the unsoaked. The fibers are distributed evenly 

 throughout the whole field. Small spaces indicate the endomysium, 

 and here and there is a space holding a few granules which corre- 

 spond to the great mass of amorphous material that characterizes 

 the unsoaked muscle. The internal structure of the fiber itself has 

 not apparently undergone any marked change by the soaking proc- 

 ess. It is still much smoother than the normal. In the cross sec- 

 tion, .even more markedly than in the longitudinal, is seen the 

 tendency to uneven staining, certain fibrils showing orange red 

 instead of green, others yellow, and others giving clear green. 

 (Plate X, fig. 2.) 



In the muscle of the chicken in storage 4 years all of the forms of 

 degeneration before mentioned are not only visible but more pro- 

 nounced. The exuded material, however, has taken on a vacuolated 

 appearance, and in certain places this form of degeneration can be 

 seen overspreading a number of fibers, the edges of which gradually 

 lose their outline until all the fibers become merged into a solid mass 

 of a dense greenish-blue staining vacuolated substance. This would 

 seem to be a much exaggerated extension of the vacuolated bands 

 which were noted in the chicken in storage for 2 years, but which had 

 not at that time ruptured the sarcolemma. (Plate XI, fig. 1.) 



Very few of the fibers in the tissue kept for 4 years show the char- 

 acteristic green staining. They are a dirty yellow green instead, 

 with here and there a clear green staining mass in the fiber itself. 

 The cross markings are still visible on most of the fibers and, where 

 they do exist, are exceedingly brilliant. The brittleness of the fiber is 

 very apparent, not only showing itself in the difficulty experienced 

 in cutting thin sections but also indicated by the many transverse 

 and longitudinal cracks which break the individual fibers in every 

 direction. (Plate XI, fig. 2.) 



Attention has been called in a previous section of this report to the 

 macroscopic appearance of the intestines of chickens kept in cold 

 storage. The microscopic study of the character and sequence of 

 these changes in the market chickens discussed here has not been 

 made, but scattering examinations have shown that the macroscop- 



