72 
D. D. CUNNINGHAM. 
of the transformation over an area of epithelium the thickness of 
the layer of cells seems gradually to diminish until, just before 
the complete disappearance of the coat, it is represented by a 
mere narrow granular, yellow band on the surface of the reticular 
tissue ; but whether the individual cells are gradually atrophied 
and consumed away, or whether the phenomena are due to the 
process first affecting the largest, fully developed cells, and, sub- 
sequent to their destruction, invading younger less developed 
structures, I was unable to determine. Whatever the precise 
nature of the process may be its ultimate effect is undoubtedly 
an entire destruction of the epithelium {vide fig. 9). 
Fig. 9. — Coats of the intestine in advanced starvation, showing complete 
absence of epithelium, x 180. 
The debris of the destroyed tissue appears in great part to 
enter the cavity of the gut, and passes on to form an important 
constituent in the evacuations which continue to be passed in 
perceptible amount up to the later stages of starvation. Careful 
examinations were, on several occasions, made of these excreta. 
They consisted^ in great part, of amorphous particles, probably 
derived from dust which had entered the fiuid, but they always 
contained considerable quantities of soluble oily matter. The 
infusoria, too, which are almost invariably present in the intes- 
tinal canals of the larvse, were generally full of oil globules and 
granules in cases where their host had been starved. 
The changes in the nuclear elements of the reticular tissue 
are always extremely marked. As in the degeneration of the 
epithelium, the process of change does not appear to occur 
simultaneously over the entire extent of the intestine, and as it 
does not go on to complete destruction and removal of the tissue, 
differences in the degree of affection in different portions of the 
intestinal surface are evident, even in the last stages of starvation. 
In this coat the changes seem to occur first, and to attain their 
highest development in the upper portion of the canal, while in 
other parts, in proportion to their distance from this portion, they 
apj)ear later and are less complete. The earliest symptom of 
change here also is a change in the colour of the affected struc- 
tures. The nuclei, in place of presenting their normal soft, 
colourless appearance {vide fig. 10), assume a yellow colour, 
and become distended with a thick yellow material. This 
material in some cases is distinctly granular, but in others it 
appears rather as though it were a thick fluid. As the change 
