ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 



An Abstract of Dr. Beale's Lectures on the Structure and 

 Growth of the Tissues of the Human Body, Delivered 

 at the Royal College of Physicians, April — May, 1861. 



Lectures VI and VII [Conclusion). 



Certain forms of areolar or connective tissue. — The areolar or 

 connective tissue in connection with many of the higher 

 tissues of the body appears as a delicate fibrous texture, in 

 which the direction of the fibres is not uniform, or as a 

 delicate transparent web, in which granules and irregular 

 fibres are here and there seen, destitute of nuclei, and of any 

 form of yellow elastic tissue, or associated with one or both 

 of these latter sti^uctures. These forms are to be distin- 

 guished from the well-defined bundles of white and yellow 

 fibrous tissue which possess nuclei, and which are found in 

 the corium and in other situations. The structure we are 

 now considering has been spoken of as indeterminate or in- 

 definite connective tissue. You find it in papillae, as in those 

 of the tongue and skin, in connection with vessels, nerve 

 fibres, and muscular fibres, between the follicles of glands, 

 the uriniferous tubes, and in the brain and spinal cord, and 

 in many other situations. It is often considered as a bond 

 of union between difi'erent textures, and as a support to 

 higher tissues, but it must be remembered that at an early 

 period of development, when the tissues and parts of organs • 

 are very soft, and seem to be in greatest need of support, 

 there is no indefinite connective tissue. Moreover, it must 

 be quite obvious that in such an organ as the kidney the 

 different structures support each other. The uriniferous 

 tubes support the vessels which lie between them, and vice 

 versa. 



By some it is asserted that this form of connective tissue 

 contains cells or nuclei, while others deny this, and assert 

 that even the higher forms of white fibrous tissue are pro- 

 duced independently of these structures. Dr. Beale en- 

 deavoured to disprove the truth of the latter assertion, but 

 feels quite sure that the former statement is true. He has 

 seen certain forms, both of white and yellow fibrous tissue, 



VOL. II. NEW SER. ^ 



