3 DR. BEALE, ON THE TISSUES. 



appearance so characteristic of this tissue. If it is attempted 

 to make a transverse section, the stellate bodies are obtained. 

 It is impossible to obtain a very thin transverse section of 

 tendon Avith these nuclei in their natural position. In at- 

 tempting to do so, short pieces of tendon with the included 

 nuclei are cut off. At the edge of the specimen are some 

 bands of wavy fibres detached, with the nuclei in them, and 

 in some the immediate continuity of the fibrous structure 

 with the so-called nucleus can be positively traced. 



The masses of germinal matter Avhich are seen in the 

 specimens are regarded by Virchow as areolar or connective 

 tissue corpuscles, " bindegewebs-kdrperchen," and he states 

 that they are connected together by tubes, so as to produce a 

 stellate arrangement. In a longitudinal section he admits that 

 nothing of the kind is to be seen, but in a transverse section 

 the stellate arrangement is observable. It seemed to Dr. 

 Beale that this may be explained thus : — It is not possible to 

 obtain a very thin section in which all the divided parts are 

 i7i situ. In the transverse sections made, some of the pro- 

 longations from these bodies are altered in position, so as to 

 make it appear as if they passed from the corpuscle or cell 

 between and amongst the longitudinal fibres to neighbouring 

 cells. 



These nuclei are the masses of germinal matter of tendon, 

 and the fibrous substance is the formed material formed from 

 it. The so-called nuclei are certainly connected with the wavy 

 bands of the fibrous tissue. The tissue nearest the nuclei is not 

 yet perfectly formed, and it is so soft that separation usually 

 occurs at this point, and the nuclei or cells escape from the 

 stitravuuce of the fibrous tissue in which they appear to have 

 been embedded. 



In the nutrition of this texture, therefore, it follows that 

 the nutrient matter passes through, or permeates, the formed 

 material, being drawn to the oval masses of germinal matter as 

 towards centres. Certain of the nutrient elements then become 

 living particles of the germinal matter of tendon, and in due 

 order become converted into the firm, unyielding, fibrous 

 structure or intercellular substance (formed material) . 



The appearances observed in a small- piece of a longitudinal 

 section of the tendon of a child at birth were then alluded to. 

 The prolongations from the masses of germinal matter {cells or 

 nuclei) are well seen, and their communications are tolerably 

 numerous. The specimen has been pressed, and the disposi- 

 tion of the oval nuclei has therefore been altered. The pro- 

 cesses are distinct enough in some places, but most of them 

 gradually become lost among the wavy fibres with which all 



