On steatosis, or adipification of muscle / by C. H. Hallett.

  • Hallett, Charles Henry.
Date:
[1849]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On steatosis, or adipification of muscle / by C. H. Hallett. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    Louis also, on dissecting the araputated lower extremity of a subject, observed that gastrocnemius, the solveus, the pla'ntaris, the poplit<Eus, the long common flexor of the toes, the proper flexor of the great toe, and the tibialis posticus, were converted into adipose substance.* Lastly, in a woman who had died shortly after bearing a child, Emmanuel, who was obliged to make the examination by stealth, observed the muscles forming the abdominal parietes completely converted into fat. Besides the cases brought together in this memoir, others, more or less extensive, have been seen and mentioned by Salzmann, Leuwenhoeck, Albinus, Haller, and many other anatomists ; but I am not aware that they have given any detailed account of their observations.! I may here state, that the other instances of this pathological condition of the muscles in the adult human body which have fallen under my notice, were, first, almost complete transformation of the muscles in the anterior and external region of the leg in connection with club-foot, the fleshy hue being only discernible in the interior of the muscles ; secondly, partial trans- formation of all the muscles of the leg, consequent on ankylosis of the knee-joint and disease of the tarsal bones ; and lastly, com- plete transformation of the deltoid muscle, probably resulting from injury of the circumflex nerve from dislocation of the head of the humerus into the axilla. In none of these cases, however, was there any other peculiarity noticed worthy of especial mention. From the observations hitherto recorded, it would appear that the fatty transformation of muscle is strictly confined to that kind of muscular fibre called striated, comprising all the muscles of animal life, and the heart, which is also ranked from its mode of action, amongst the involuntary muscles, or muscles of organic life. Kerkring, Bonet, Morgagni, Cruveilhier, Laennec, and AdamsJ, have all seen and described examples of fatty transfor- mation of the muscular substance of the heart. In all these cases, as well as my own, the fatty matters had been deposited, for the most part, in the fibres towards the surface of the several cavities, the inner fibres and the columncB carnecB being free from fat, and possessing their normal appearance ; and it may be stated in con- nection with this, that, whenever the heart is found to have un- * .lournal Generale de Medecine, t. 24, p. 3. t Vide OSuvres de \icq d'Azyr, loc. cit., and Journal General de Medecine, loc. cit. Salzmann is described as having seen muscular fibres converted into a fatty mass. Leuwenhoeck is cited by Haller as having seen not only the muscles but the tendons also adipified. Albinus, after describing the muscles in general in his work, De musculorum Hominis, says, Pinguidineita disteriditnr ahquando ut reliqua musculorum sufficet: tendines vero pinguidina tarn facile non cedunt; implying that he had observed the change. + Vide Kssai d'Anatomic Pathologique, Vol. 1, p. 183: and Craigie's Patholo- gical and General Anatomy, art. Steatosis.