HYALIXE CARTILAGE. 



73 



by a transparent capsule, which is seldom obvious to the eye, for it 

 coheres intimately with the surrounding matrix, with which it agrees 

 in nature, and can- 

 not usually be distin- 

 guished without the 

 aid of re-agents. „v\^^ 



Fi- 42. 



In thin slices of yoxng 

 cartilage the capsules 

 may be freed from the ^^ 

 matrix by means of con- m; 



centrated mineral acids, w ,r^ 



and can then be shown ^ ^. 



as distinct vesicles ha^'ing ^ , • - 



the cell-bodies -n-ithin, ^ 

 The effect of acids is ^ 

 jiromoted by pre^dous 

 Ijoiling of the cartilage 

 in water. By exposure 

 to water and some other 

 liquids as well as to the 

 action of electric shocks 

 the cell-body shrinks 

 a-n-ay from the inside of 

 the capsule, and assumes 

 a jagged or other-n-ise 

 irregular figure, and then 

 may hide the nucleus (fig. 

 44). It often contains 

 larger or smaller fat- 

 globiiles (fig. 42, g.') 



Fig. 42. — Articular Cartilage from Heap op 



JMeTATARSAL (OS.MIC ACID I'REPARATIOX). TllE CeLL- 

 BOMES ENTIRELY FILL THE Sl'ACES IX THE jMaTRIX. 

 340 DIAMETERS. 



a, h, groups of cells ; /;, protoplasm of cell, with ff, 

 fatty granules ; ii, nucleus. 



The cells are rarely 

 dispersed singly in 

 the matrix ; they most 

 commonly occur iu 

 groups of two or 

 more. When disposed 

 in pairs (as at a, fig. 

 42) the cells are generally triangular or pyramidal in form with 

 rounded angles, and with their bases opposite one another ; in the 

 larger groups (Z*) the cells have a straight outline where they adjoin or 

 approach one another, but at the circumference of the group their out- 

 line is rounded. Towards the surf icc of the cartilage the groups are 

 generally flattened conformably with the surface, appearing narrow and 

 almost linear when seen edgeways, as in a perpendicular section 

 (fig. 43). 



Such is the structure of hyaline cartilage in general, but it is more or 

 less modified in different situations. 



In articTilar cartilage, the matrix in a thin section appears dim, 

 like ground glass, and has an almost granular aspect. The cells are 

 smaller and more uniformly dispersed, as a rule, than in rib cartilage. 

 As is the case with cartilage generally, the groups which they form 

 are flattened at and near to the surface, and lie parallel with it 

 (fig. 44) ; deeper and nearer the bone, on the other hand, they 

 are narrow and oblong, like short irregular strings of beads, and are 



