368 



The preparations of connective tissue made after Gerlach's 

 method (dessication of the tissue, section, colouring with 

 carmine, washing, and the action of acetic acid) show 

 star-like figures, in the centre of which is perceived a red 

 irregular corpuscle. Virchow saw in this star-like figure a 

 real cell, in the irregular corpuscle a nucleus ; and he gave 

 to the whole the name of plasmatic cell. He had discovered 

 that the bone-corpuscle is a cell, and, struck with the analogy 

 of the form presented by the plasmatic cell, the bone-cor- 

 puscle, he was led to consider these two elements as histo- 

 logical equivalents. He also admits that in connective tissue, 

 as in bone, there is a system of channels destined to conduct 

 the plasma, and to put it in connexion with the different parts 

 of the tissue. 



Under the influence of the works of Von Recklinghausen, 

 the idea of plasmatic channels in connective tissue received 

 great confirmation ; but these same observations tend to show 

 that the star-like figure of connective tissue is not a simple 

 cell. 



It was in creating a new method — the impregnation of 

 tissues by nitrate of silver — that Recklinghausen modified 

 the ideas of most histologists on the subject of connective 

 tissue. The impregnation of the cornea of the frog by nitrate 

 of silver renders apparent star-like figures, united one to the 

 other by prolonged ramifications. According to the inventor 

 of this method, these prolongations are the canals in which 

 the cells (the real cells) can make their way in virtue of their 

 amoeboid movements. Recklinghausen applied the same 

 method to diff'erent parts of connective tissue, and throughout 

 with the same results. Connective tissue seemed to him 

 invariably to contain canals in which circulate the plasma 

 and the cells. These canals (canaux du sue, Saftkanalchen) 

 were held to be the real origin of the lymphatic system. 



The researches of Kiihne on the intermuscular connective 

 tissue of the frog teach us that in this animal the cells of the 

 connective tissue have no membrane, nor are they comprised 

 in the canals ; and that they are free in the meshes between 

 the bundles of connective tissue. The result is that, at least 

 in the frog, we cannot apply to all the connective tissue the 

 general idea of the plasmatic system furnished by studying the 

 cornea with the aid of silver impregnation. 



As soon as Virchow's first works on connective tissue 

 ajjpeared, Henle (Canstatt's ' Jahresbericht,' 1851, vol. i, 

 pp. 23, .24) declared himself strongly against his theory. 

 He took, as an example, tendons which, when cut trans- 

 versely, show star-like figures, which are never distinguished 



