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In pathol. a condition characterized by a continually increasing accumulation of fat replacing the minute structural elements of thetissues of living organisms. In man this deseased condition has been observed in nearly all the tissues, and is essentially a sign of weakness or death of the part. It attacks the muscles, especially the heart; the brain (yellow softening); the kidney, in many cases of Bright's disease; etc. In the severer forms, when the heart or the larger vessels are affected, the disease generally terminates in sudden death by rupture, followed by syncope.

FATTINESS.

FATTINESS.

A change of tissues into fat.

The deposit of minute fat granules in the cytoplasm of the cells of the liver, kidney, heart muscle, and endothelial cells of blood vessels, accompanied by degenerative changes in the nucleus, and caused by chemical poisons, malnutrition, and bacterial infections.