A much better appreciation of the muscle degeneration was obtained in the _microscopic_ studies of these tissues. The various gradations of tissue change could be followed, which was not possible in the naked-eye examinations. Some points respecting this degeneration were quite noteworthy. Firstly, the process of degeneration in its early stages and advancing through the acute destructive periods was not accompanied by any inflammatory reaction. Evidence of inflammatory exudate was obtained only when the degeneration had proceeded to a degree permitting of rupture with hemorrhage, or in the late stages when the areas of marked muscle dissolution were undergoing repair. We have no evidence to indicate that bacteria were present during the beginning of the degenerative process. Bacteria could not be demonstrated in section. The appearance of the tissue suggested a purely toxic process which was selective in its action, picking out voluntary striped muscle tissue and attacking certain muscle groups in preference to others. It was also interesting to observe in the early stages of the degeneration that individual fibers lying amidst healthy and unchanged muscle elements would show degeneration in many of its stages. This appearance was often unique, particularly when in the early stages of the process the involved fiber would still retain its normal position and shape though markedly altered in its staining and chemical qualities. The degeneration as observed in these cases showed many of the characters like that of waxy degeneration seen in typhoid fever. Similar appearances to these have also been described in connection with the toxic degenerations which occur in the vicinity of infections by the gas bacillus. In fact, all the stages observed in the one can be seen in the other. They differ, however, only in the degree to which final destruction takes place and in the speed with which the degeneration is accomplished. The character of the degeneration is well studied in sections stained with hematoxylin and eosin, eosin-methylene blue, and best of all in the phosphotungstic acid hematoxylin. By the latter method one is able to follow clearly the grade of degeneration as it effects the muscle striations. On the other hand, the peculiar waxy appearance of the early degenerating fibers is best seen in sections stained with eosin or fuchsin, where the striated muscle fibers are found to be changed to a more intensely staining red body of homogeneous character and devoid of all evidence of their original internal architecture. These bland waxy fibers were often of the size and shape like the normal. On the other hand, the fibers are also not uncommonly swollen, stretching the sarcolemma to almost the bursting point. Following this primary bland degeneration the fiber takes on irregular shapes, becoming constricted and collapsed at irregular intervals, so that islands of the waxy contents lie within the sarcolemma, being