Miller.] 464 CJa"- '(>> 
sections irregularly lengthened lozenge-shaped, some of them, 
however, being almost fusiform in outline. They average about 
22.5 }>■ in length and 3.75 v- in width. The cell walls are exceed- 
ingly thin and are stained jjale yellow. The cell contents are 
very finely granular, highly refractive, and stained faintly blue. 
Scattered among the finer granules are numerous larger bodies of 
variable size. All these are, however, too small to joermit of 
accurate measurement, the largest being less than 1 (a in diameter. 
The nuclei are more homogeneous in structure, and slightly more 
deeply stained than the cell contents. They are slightly irregular 
in outline and stained deep blue with a faint yellowish border. 
A distinct nucleolus can usually be recognized. The sides of 
the nuclei lie in contact with the cell walls, and their long axes 
are parallel with the long axes of the cells. Average length of 
nuclei 9.37 }>■; average width 3.75 n. The stratum granulosum is 
thickest and best developed immediately over the introitus 
vaginae, where it apparently forms a continuous layer. At either 
side it gradually becomes thinner until it assumes the condition 
seen in the normal epidermis. 
Next to the stratum granulosum lies the stratum Malpighii. 
This, Hke the two outer layers, is greatly thickened in the region 
of the vagina. In the normal skin, as has already been stated, 
the Malpighian layer is about 18 1* thick; over the introitus 
vaginae it is increased to 56 (* or 57 v-. In the normal skin, again, 
there are only three or four layers of cells in the stratum Mal- 
pighii ; here on the contrary there are ten or twelve. The 
thickening is due to an increase in the number of the spindle- 
shaped cells of the more superficial layers rather than to additions 
in the more crowded deeper layers. The nuclei in the stratum 
Malpighii are firmer in outline and somewhat more elongated 
than those of the stratum granulosum. The yellowish border is 
also more pronounced. They average about 11.25 h- in length and 
3.5 F in width. The cell walls in this region are much thicker 
than in the sti-atum granulosum, and are, together with the cell 
contents, stained yellow, being thus well differentiated from the 
pale blue nuclei. The substance of the cell is somewhat fibrous 
so that it is diflicult to make out the cell boundaries. This 
difiiculty increases in the deepest layers, where the cells and 
nuclei are so crowded that their arrangement cannot be satis- 
factorily determined. 
