AREOLAR TISSUE. l; 



are represented in pi. Ill, fig. 6, a, being spindle-shaped or 



longish corpuscles, which arc thickest in the middle and gra- 

 dually elongated at both extremities into minute fibres. They 

 may therefore be described as consisting of a thicker portion, 

 or body, and fibres, which proceed from it. 



The body is either round or slightly compressed upon the 

 sides. The surface is covered with very minute granuh . 

 Within the thickest portion of it lies another small corpuscle 

 of a circular or generally oval form, and which again eneloses 

 one or two small dark points, and accords entirely with the 

 common cell-nucleus. It is therefore probable, that the entire 

 corpuscle is a cell containing a nucleus. The nuclei have not 

 a similar size in all the cells ; there is a much more striking 

 variation, however, in the relative size of the cells and the 

 nuclei. In the largest cells, such as a, fig. G, the body is 

 almost as thick again as the nucleus, and it may be observed 

 that the nucleus does not lie in the centre, but upon the wall 

 of the cell. In most instances, however, the cells are rela- 

 tively smaller, scarcely larger indeed than the nucleus ; 

 insomuch, that the fibres often appear to proceed immediately 

 from the nucleus, as at b in the figure : the cell in 

 that instance encompasses the nucleus quite closely. Cells 

 frequently become separated during the process of preparation 

 for the microscope, and float about singly in the water, with a 

 portion of the fibres issuing from them. By causing them to 

 roll, when so detached, it maybe satisfactorily seen that many 

 of them are somewhat flattened laterally, and that the nucleus 

 is attached to the inside of the cell-wall. The larger cells, 

 under such circumstances, appear as though the granulous 

 aspect were produced by the external Avail only, therefore by 

 the cell-membrane, the interior being filled with a clear fluid. 



The cells pass by a gradual process of acumination into the 

 fibres, it being quite impossible to discern any defined boun- 

 dary between them. The fibres are pale, minutely granulous 

 like the cells, and frequently give off branches. Their course 

 is usually straight. It is difficult to find out how they terminate ; 

 but they are generally lost in a bundle of extremelj minute 

 fibres. 



The above-described corpuscles, then, are the fibre-cells of 

 areolar tissue in the middle stage of their development, a con- 



S 



