C.  The  same,  yet  more  adTanced,  dll  inagnified  400  times.  From  Dr.  Quain's
plates;  Med.-Ohir.  Trans,  xxxiii.  pi.  3.
H


98  ATEOPHY  OF  THE  HEART.
I  alluded  in  tte  last  lecture  to  the  defective  condition  of  the  nuclei
of  degenerate  elemental  structures.  This  is  peculiarly  weU  shown  in
the  degenerate  fibres  of  the  heart.  When  those  of  a  healthy  heart  are
placed  in  diluted  acetic  acid  they  display  a  longitudinal  series  of  nuclei
at  nearly  equal  distances  apart,  and  usually  lying  in  the  middle  of  the
presenting  surface  of  the  fibre.  Nuclei  of  this  form  are,  so  far  as  I
know,  pecuhar  to  the  heart-fibres.  They  are  large,  reddish-yellow  like
blood-globules,  especially  when  the  heart  is  very  robust ;  they  are  elong-
ated oval,  or  nearly  quadrilateral,  and  at  each  of  their  ends  one  al-
most always  sees  tapering  groups  of  small,  isolated,  yellowish  granules
like  particles  separated  from  them,  and  gradually  withering.  But  in
the  degenerate  fibre,  when  the  change  is  least  advanced,  the  outline
of  the  nucleus  looks  dim,  and  it  loses  its  colour  ;  when  the  change  has
made  further  progress  the  nucleus  cannot  be  seen  at  all,  though  its
former  place  may  be  indicated  by  some  of  the  narrow  group  of  granules  ;
and  in  a  yet  later  stage,  when  the  sarcolemma  appears  nearly  full  of
fatty  particles,  all  trace  is  lost  alike  of  the  nucleus  and  of  the  granules.
