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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    have been, during his life-time, a strong robust man ; the chest was large and capacious, the limbs bulky and firm, and, as far as it was possible to judge from external appearances, the whole mus- cular system seemed more than usually well developed. The re- moval of the superficial textures, however, immediately dispelled the previously-formed opinion of the fitness of the subject for dissection, since all the muscles of the back, the part first dissected, could not be distinguished by their colour; the fibrous character of some structures composed almost entirely of fat, and the direc- tion or course of the fibres alone indicated the position of, and the lines of demarcation between, the various muscles in the whole of the dorsal region. On turning the body, the muscles on the upper part of the trunk were found in precisely the same condition. All the muscles in the body were subsequently examined in detail, and but few were found that had entirely escaped the fatty dete- rioration. Some of the muscles had been apparently entirely transformed into adipose tissue. Others had been only partially transformed, many of these having three-fourths or more of their muscular ap- pearance destroyed; the remaining portion, although wearing a fleshy aspect, presented very evident indications of the process of adipification being in full force up to the time of death. A few retained more of their normal appearance, in consequence either of a small portion only having been converted into fat, or of the adipose matter having distributed itself equally and comparatively in small quantity throughout the whole muscle, giving it a pecu- liar mottled aspect. I shall, therefore, in noticing the case in de- tail, first enumerate those muscles which had been wholly con- verted into fat, and then enumerate those which had undergone only a partial adipification, in each region of the body. 1st, In the back, the face, and region of the scalp, all the mus- cles, with the single exception of the latissimus dorsi, which was only partially changed, were apparently completely converted into adipose substance. 2dly, In the anterior cervical region, the only muscles which were observed to have undergone any appreciable transformation were, the recti antici majores and minores; the longi colli, and thescaleni antici and postici; and these had been completely transformed. Sdlt/, In the region of the trunk, the muscles which had been wholly converted into fat were the pectoral muscles, both greater and lesser, on each side; the serraii magni, the triangulares sterni; the diaphragm, both external obliques ; and, on the right side only, the psoas magnus and quadratus lumboriim. Those partially transformed were the intercostals, both external and in- ternal, the fatty matter being distributed in small patches through-