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Profs. J. G. Adami and L. AschofF. [June 6, 



investigation was begun, we could not determine with accuracy what were 

 the factors leading to the successful production of the globules. Of two 

 preparations made apparently alike and subjected to like treatment, one 

 might present them, the other not. Often, notably in the case of the stearic 

 and palmitic acid compounds, the phenomenon was transient, not to say 

 momentary. After heating the two components together to form the salt (or 

 soap) and this in the presence of water or weak alcohol, upon examining the 

 slide as it cooled, the globules might flash out, sometimes in a perfect rain 

 over the field, and rapidly give place to a gener. 1 crystallisation. Globules 

 which cannot persist at the room temperature cannot be taken into con- 

 sideration as being possibly associated with the doubly refractive myelin 

 bodies of the human organism. 



The stearic and palmitic compounds are thus seen to be placed aside. But 

 even with the simple oleates, potassium oleate, for example, while globules 

 might be present even after several days, in other preparations they might 

 be wholly wanting, being replaced by crystals. This with the simple 

 soaps was the rule and not the exception. 



These uncertainties, coupled with the evident relationship of the globules 

 to the process of crystallisation, and the observation that the condition in the 

 atheromatous aorta disappeared upon heating, to reappear upon cooling, led 

 one of us to consult his colleague, Professor P. Schenck, regarding the nature 

 of these globules, and, as it happened, he consulted one of the authorities 

 upon the subject. As the work of Lehmann and Schenck is evidently as 

 little known by other pathologists and biologists as it was to us, a short 

 notice of their observations is imperative. Briefly, these doubly refractive 

 globules are "fluid spherocrystals." The present status of knowledge and 

 opinion regarding these is given clearly and succinctly in Schenck's 

 'Fliissige Kristalle' (Leipzig, Engelmann, 1905). We would here thank 

 Professor Schenck heartily for his aid in this and other matters. 



The impression that a crystal is a solid unyielding body cannot be 

 maintained. It has been known for long that metals like lead and gold can, 

 under pressure, be forced through apertures, as also with ease can solid 

 sodium. The earlier view was that we had to deal with the gliding of one 

 solid crystal upon the other. Lehmann's observations, extending over more 

 than fifteen years, have shown that there exist substances which, when heated, 

 pass into an intermediate state, From being solid they become fluid, but 

 still, xmder polarised light, they are seen to maintain the characteristic 

 crystalline feature of being doubly refractive or at least of containing 

 doubly refractive bodies. Some of these fluids are thick like olive oil, some, 

 as for instance j9a?'«-azoxyphenetol, are more fluid than water. Heat to 



