obesity ; the adipose substance under the skin, in the omentum,
about the heart, &c., being in such quantity, as to
attract much attention. The subject was the same as that
from which the specimen of healed necrosis, marked, E. a. 155,
was taken; and in which there was bony anchylosis of the
patella to the femur. The preparation shows a conversion of
the muscles on the front of the thigh, viz. the rectus, criirseus,
andvasti,into one mass of pale,soft fat. Preparation 1121 shows
the commencement of a similar disorganization in the gracilis.
The most remarkable feature in the case is the maintenance
of the same fibrous disposition among the particles of the
adeps, as that belonging to the original muscular texture ;
and not the disposition of it in globules, such as takes place in
fatty tumors developed in any other part of the body. The
silvery fibres of the tendons run among the interstices of the
fatty degeneration of the muscular fibre, unchanged. The
quantity of adipose substance in the ham of the diseased limb
was so great as to have pushed forward into the joint, and to
have contributed to its immobility. Although the muscles of
the thigh exhibited in so remarkable a degree this alteration
of texture, those surrounding the bones of the leg were perfectly
free from such degeneration.—School of College.
E. b. 1121. Gracilis muscle from the same individual as that
from which the preceding was taken; showing an incipient
condition of the fatty degeneration- Here the arrangement
of the adipose deposit is clearly shown to be in parallel lines
corresponding to the disposition of the fibres of the muscle.
E. b. 1122. Gastrocnemii muscle converted into fat. The
preparation was. taken from a healthy looking female subject,
who seemed to have died after parturition ; but of whom no
history could be procured. These muscles are pale, soft and
fatty, though of the natural size, and preserving their fibrous
disposition; their tendons, also, ar,e natural, and can be traced,
scattering their fibres unchanged, through the disorganized
muscular tissue. Vessels carrying red blood could not be traced
into them. All the other muscles, as well those of the limb
thus affected as those of the opposite, exhibited their usual
healthy consistence and florid hue. None of the other muscles
of the body were so affected,—J. SheJcleton, Esq.
E. b. 1123. Fatty degeneration of a portion of muscle, very
like the preceding, but of which no history has been given.
Prof- Kirby.
E. b. 1128. A portion of the pectoral muscle, studded all
through with numerous white particles, the cysts of entozoa.
The preparation was found in an old emaciated subject,
in whom all the voluntary muscles of the body were similarly
affected. [Another such case was met with in the
dissecting room during the session of 1825, under precisely
similar circumstances.]—J. Shekleton, Esq.
E. b. 1129. A curious specimen of hydatid disease of muscular
texture, but of which no history has been furnished.
The fibres of the muscles are inlaid with numerous oval and
spherical hydatids, some of them as large as beans, and all containing
an albuminous fluid, but without any traces of animaculi
within : the muscular fibres appear to have suffered only by
being pushed aside by their bulk.—Prof. Kirby.
E. b. 1130. A portion of pectoralis major muscle, containing
numerous depositions of small, ovoid, osseous grains, varying
from 20 to 30 of an inch in diameter. Doctor Cranfield,
by whom the preparation was presented, has ascertained that
the adventitious deposits lie in the inter-muscular cellular
tissue; and that, generally, they are each grooved like the
hilum of a seed of wheat, by a mark which he has ascertained
to be the impression of a muscular fibre. Doctor C. has determined,
by chemical experiments, which may yet be published,
that the grains consist of phosphate of lime, with some
animal matter. The patient, a man about forty, died of
phthisis pulmonalis. Dr. Cranfield ascertained, as far as a