Liver.—Blue on section; pale yellow areas; soft in consistency. Weight, 47³⁄₄ ounces.
Spleen.—Normal.
Kidneys.—No fat. Cirrhotic, adherent, atrophic cortex, granular.
Muscles.—Generally dark in colour; wasted.
A very complete histological examination was made of the brain and spinal cord, and throughout the particular changes noticed were proliferation of the glia, hyaline thickening of the walls of the vessels, both arteries and veins, and presence of congestion; and here and there rupture of the smallest vessels, causing miliary microscopic hæmorrhages into the perivascular sheaths and the substance of the brain. There was no infiltration with lymphocytes and plasma cells, as is found in general paralysis. The neuroglia showed a formative hyperplasia resulting from chronic irritation.
In the cortex there was neuroglia proliferation in the polymorpho layer and the molecular layer. Changes were seen in the Betz cells, particularly in the Nissl substance, with perinuclear chromatolysis, such as is generally found in chronic peripheral neuritis, whether due to lead, alcohol, or other toxic causes.
There was no coarse atrophy or degeneration of the fibres of the cortex. Neither the cerebellum nor the spinal cord at any of the levels examined showed fibre atrophy or degeneration, except possibly a slight diffuse sclerosis in the crossed pyramidal tracts of the lumbar region.
Microscopical examination was made of the heart, spleen, kidney, liver, lung, and suprarenal gland. There was a general condition of angiosclerosis; in the liver a fibrotic overgrowth around the vessels; in the kidneys well-marked interstitial fibrosis.
A chemical examination of the brain was also conducted by the copper potassium nitrite method, but no lead was found.