LECTURE XVII. 
FATTY DEGENERATIONS. 
There is a particular morbid condition of many dis- 
tinct organs, in which fatty matter, or true adipose 
tissue, takes the place of healthy structures. The first 
* 
of these abnormal changes is called fatty degeneration, 
but to that of the second the term fatty substitution 
might be applied ; they occur most frequently in mus- 
cular tissue. Before, however, T can present a satisfac- 
tory idea of the commencement of this disease, it will be 
necessary for me to describe very briefly the normal 
anatomy of muscular tissue. For our knowledge of 
the minute anatomy of muscle we are principally 
indebted to the labours of Mr. Bowman, and the 
account I shall give will differ but little from that 
published by him in the first part of the “ Philoso- 
phical Transactions” for 1841. Every voluntary 
o 
