CHAPTER V. 



FIBROUS CONNECTIVE TISSUES. 



35. BY the name of " connective tissues " we desig- 

 nate a variety of tissues which have in common with 

 one another, that they are developed from the same 

 embryonic elements ; that they all serve as supporting 

 tissue or connecting substance, for nervous, muscular, 

 glandular, and vascular tissues ; that they are capable 

 of taking one another's place in the different classes of 

 animals; that in the embryo and in the growing normal 

 and morbid condition one may be changed into the 

 other; that in the adult they gradually shade off one into 

 the other ; and that they yield allied chemical products. 



Connective tissues are divided into the three great 

 groups of ( 1 ) fibrous connective tissue ; (2) cartilage ; 

 (3) bone, to which may be added dentine. Each of 

 these is subdivided into several varieties, as will 

 appear farther on, but in all instances the ground 

 substance, or matrix, or intercellular substance, is 

 to be distinguished from the cells. In the fibrous con- 

 nective tissue the matrix yields collagen or gelatin, 

 and the cells are called connective tissue cells, or con- 

 nective tissue corpuscles. In the cartilage the ground 

 substance yields chondrin, and the cells are called car- 

 tilage cells. In the third group the ground substance 

 contains inorganic lime salts, intimately connected 

 with a fibrous matrix, and the cells are called bone 

 cells. 



36. The fibrous connective tissue, or white 

 fibrous tissue, occurs in the skin and mucous 

 membranes, in the serous and synovial membranes, 

 in the membranes of the brain and spinal cord, in 



