386 
B. MELLAND. 
quence of shrinking the sarcous substance no longer entirely 
fills up the skeleton “ muscle caskets,” and the division into 
sarcous elements, which was foreshadowed only before by the 
bars of the network, becomes evident by the development of 
intervening spaces between adjacent elements. The appear- 
ance known as Cohnheim’s areas is somewhat differently 
described by different observers. For the present we may 
follow Klein’s 1 description. The prismatic sarcous elements 
which lie side by side in the living fibre with no intermediate 
substance, shrink through coagulation on dying, and become 
separated from one another by a transparent interstitial fluid 
substance. In a transverse view there are thus seen small 
polygonal areas separated by clear lines, each polygonal area 
corresponds to a sarcous element. 
Cohnheim’s areas may be described, as the appearances pro- 
duced by coagulation and splitting of the matrix along the 
guide lines formed by the transverse network ; they represent 
an end view of sarcous elements, and are post-mortem phe- 
nomena (diag. 9). 
Previous Views. 
I think it unnecessary to give a historical account of the 
different views which have been published with regard to the 
structure of the striped muscle-fibre. 
An epitome of the historical results may be found in 
Schafer’s 2 paper on the leg muscles of the water beetle ; or by 
the same author in ‘ Quain’s Anat.,’ 9th ed. 
Reference has already been made to most of the appearances 
described by different observers, and the way in which these 
appearances may be explained as caused by the presence of a 
highly refracting network. 
The relation of this network to Krause’s 3 views may be 
noticed. Krause’s “ muskel-kastchen” are bounded above and 
1 Loc. cit. 
2 Loc. cit. 
3 “ Ueber den Bau der quergestreiiten Muskel laser,” ‘ Zeitschr. f. rat. 
Med.,’ xxiii. 
