GENERAL HISTOLOGY. 



99 



end which establishes the connection with the nerve. 

 The proximal end branches 

 into two or more finer con- 

 tinuations which take on the 

 character of nerve-fibrillai, or 

 stand at least in contact with 

 the ends of nerve-fibrillre ; the 

 former usually bear special ac- 

 cessories relative to sensation, 

 such as, for example, auditory 

 and tactile hairs, pencil-like 

 projections in the case of organs 

 of smell and taste, very con- 

 siderable rods in the cells of 



FIG. 35; Sensory epithelium. a, of an 



vision. AlsO in Sense-Organs Actinian; /3, from the olfactory epithe- 



lium of man ; d, supporting cells ; s, 



in which the nerve-endings do sensory ceils. 



not lie at the surface of the body, as in the ear and eye 



of man, areas of sensory epithelium are functionally the 



most important parts. Here almost always it can be shown 



by embryology that the sensory epithelia are parts which 



have become separated from the skin of the surface of the 



body. 



Supporting Cells. In the region of the sensory epi- 

 thelium and between the sensory cells are found still other 

 epithelial cells, which do not stand in connection with 

 nerves, but have to do with the manifold accessory func- 

 tions : they serve for supporting the sensory cells ; in the 

 eyes they contain pigment ; in the auditory organs they 

 support the otoliths, etc. They have the general name of 

 " supporting cells." 



2. Connective Substances. 



Contrast of Epithelium with Connective Tissue.- 



From a histological point of view there can be found no 

 greater difference than exists between epithelium and con- 

 nective tissue; the former belongs to the surface, the latter 

 to the interior of the body ; in the former, the cells play 



