4-6 MUCOUS TISSUE. [SECT. 23, 24. 



in Mull. Arch., 1852, p. 47. F. F. Thierfelder, de Begeneratione Tetidinum 

 Misenee, 1852, Diss. Luschka, die Anatomic der mdnnlichen Brustdrusen, in 

 Mull. Arch., 1852, p. 402. Leydig, Vnters. uber Bcpt. u. Fische, 1853, p. 112. 



§ 23. Mucous Tissue. — By this name I designate a tissue which, 

 in man, exists only in the vitreous body, but which has very 

 probably an extensive distribution in the lower animals. It con- 

 sists of cells and a soft matrix, or even only of the latter, as the 

 cells may disappear in the course of development. The cells are 

 round or oblong, and contain a variable amount of matter, rich in 

 protein ; while the matrix appears as a homogeneous or striated 

 mass, and owes its greater or less consistency to the quantity of 

 mucus in its composition, which mucus appears to be very different 

 in different animals. In the vitreous body of the embryo and 

 child, which organ as yet can alone be referred to this tissue, the 

 cells are pretty numerous, and uniformly scattered throughout the 

 whole organ ; whilst in fully formed animals, they are to be found 

 only at its surface, or are wholly wanting. When comparative 

 histology is farther advanced, it will, doubtless, be found that many 

 other organs consist of this tissue; and I may, for the present, bring 

 under it the substance of the disc of Medusas, that of the swim- 

 ming bladder and other parts of the Siphonophorse, etc. Farther 

 investigation would also, without doubt, bring out a diversity of 

 chemical composition ; and it will, perhaps, be necessary hereafter 

 to select a more general expression for this tissue. 



The name Mucous Tissue was lately applied by Virchow to designate the 

 gelatinoid embryonal connective tissue, and then extended to that of the vitre- 

 ous humour. In normal histology, there seems, for the present, no reason for 

 assigning a place to a form of tissue of the composition of gelatinoid-connective 

 tissue, since such a one never occurs in the fully developed body. I have, ac- 

 cordingly, reckoned only the vitreous body under the present head in the mean 

 time. If, however, such a tissue shall be found to be permanent in animals, 

 or the requirements of pathological Histology shall so demand, the definition 

 given above can be readily enlarged, and a tissue classified under it, in which 

 one part of the cells has become converted into a network, while the others 

 have remained lying in the muciferous (albuminiferous) jelly. 



Literature. — Compare the treatises of Yirchow, cited in § 23, then of the 

 same author ; Notiz uber d. GlaskbrjJer im Arch. f. path. Anat. iv. p. 468. and 

 v. 278. 



§ 24. Cartilage-Tissue. — The cartilages consist of a firm, but 

 elastic, bluish, milk-white, or yellowish substance, which, in point 

 of structure, presents a two-fold condition; and appears, firstly, 

 as a simple parenchyma of cells ; and, secondly, as a cell-tissue with 

 a matrix between the elements. 



