CELL'SrACES. 



57 



Fig. ol. — Ramified Conxective-tissue Cor- 

 puscles FROM SrXOVIAIi ilEMBRANE. 250 

 DIAMETERS. 



groimd-substance, which also covers the surface of the bundles. In 

 this substance lie the cellular elements of the tissue, the con- 

 ned ive-Ussue corpuscles (figs. 



30, 31). These bodies, which Fig- SI. 



are of a protoplasmic nature, 

 are commonly of a flattened 

 form and not unfrequently have 

 processes which ramify in the 

 tissue and may anastomose 

 with branches from neighbour- 

 ing corpuscles (fig. 31). The 

 cells have each a clear round 

 or oval nucleus, containing 

 one or more nucleoli : occa- 

 sionally two nuclei are to be 

 seen in a cell. Besides pre- 

 senting considerable variations 

 in size and shape the corpus- 

 cles also exhibit differences in 

 the character of their proto- 

 plasm (see fig. 30), which in 

 some is coarsely granular in 

 appearance, in others finely 

 granular, or even perfectly clear 

 and pellucid, with a few coarse 

 granules scattered in it here 

 and there, whilst in others 



again there is a distinct appearance of striation or fibrillation within 

 the cell ; but these dilFereaces have hardly as yet been sufficiently 

 investigated. 



The cells (with their pro- 

 cesses) occupy spaces in the 

 ground - substance which 

 they more or less com- 

 pletely fill, and which there- 

 fore closely correspond to 

 the corpuscles themselves in 

 size and form, and in their 

 branching and intercommu- 

 nication. These cell-spaccs 

 (Saftcaniilchen, Reckling- 

 hausen) are brought into 

 view by treating the tissue 

 with a solution of nitrate of 

 silver and subsequently ex- 

 posing it to the light, by 



which the ground-substance and fibrils of the tissue are stained of 

 a uniform brown tint, whereas the protoplasm of the cells remains 

 unstained, and the cell-spaces consequently appear white (fig. 32).* 



■* In tlie cai3e of the pigment-cells of the frog's skin previously noticed (pp. 12, 13), it 

 is probable tliat tbe clear, branched figiu'e which renaains after the shrinking of the pig- 

 mented matter, is the outline of the cdl-space, which was previously tilled by the cell- 

 substance. (Sharpey.) 



Fig. l>2.— Cell-Sp.^ces uF 



XECTIVE-TISSLE, NiXRATE 

 TION. 340 DIAMETERS. 



SuiicuTAXEous Con 

 OF Silver Prepara- 



