HC AREOLAR TISSUE. 



prolongations of cells, and as the transformation of trie cells 

 into fibres in the areolar tissue, takes place by a gradual 

 acumi nation, it seems to me, for the present, more probable 

 that they are hollow rather than solid. If we imagine the 

 formation of the fibres from a cell to take place by the 

 cell-wall growing more vigorously at two opposite limited 

 spots than it does at any other part, we can then conceive 

 that the division of these main fibres into branches, and their 

 prolongation into fibrils, may be effected by the same process. 

 The question as to the hollo wness or solidity of these fibrils, is 

 still less capable of being settled by observation than that 

 with respect to the larger fibres. Analogy is in favour of 

 their being hollow, and the minuteness of an object forms 

 no limit to nature's operations. 



The splitting into fibres, which, as we have seen, pursues a 

 retrograde course from the branches towards the main fibres, 

 and thence towards the body of the cell, might be illus- 

 trated in the following manner : — suppose that part of a 

 glove which corresponds to the hand to be the body of a cell, 

 and the fingers to be a fasciculus of fibrils. If the membrane 

 situate in the angle between two fingers grow in the 

 direction of the hand, the glove will at length be split into 

 five portions. But a difficulty arises with respect to the 

 fibre-cells of areolar tissue, which is, that the division into 

 fibres advances from two opposite sides towards the body of the 

 cell, and, therefore, the fibres of one side must ultimately cor- 

 respond with those of the other. This, however, admits of no 

 further explanation than the healing of the corresponding pri- 

 mitive fibres in the reproduction of nerves does. Meanwhile 

 the above arc only attempts to convey a clear idea of the 

 results of my investigations, modes of representation which are 

 susceptible of various modifications, provided they be not made 

 to contradict the observations ; the latter may be briefly summed 

 up as follows : — cells, furnished with the characteristic nucleus, 

 are present in the first instance, which become elongated on 

 two opposite sides, more rarely on several sides, into fibres, and 

 these are prolonged into more minute fibres. At a later period 

 the principal -fibres, and then also the bodies of the cells are 

 split into fibres, so that a small fasciculus of fibrils, with a 

 nucleus fixed upon it, remains in the place of the original single 



