86 PRACTICAL HISTOLOGY. 



distilled water mid the tendons are mounted in glycerine, 

 acidulated with acetic acid. 



The picrocarmine is made by adding to a saturated 

 solution of picric acid a strong solution of carmine in 

 ammonia, to saturation, evaporating the mixture to one- 

 fifth part of its bulk, allowing to cool, filtering from the 

 deposit which occurs, and evaporating the filtrate to dry- 

 ness over a water-bath ; when the picrocarmine is left as 

 a crystalline powder of an ochre-red color. 



Preparation 14. Transverse section of Ten- 

 don. To obtain this, it is best to take a large 

 tendon, tor it is much easier to get transverse sec- 

 tions of sucli a one, and in all essential points of 

 structure it is quite similar to the minute tendons 

 which, for the sake of convenience, we have just 

 been employing. A piece, then, of any tendon, 

 large enough to be grasped by the fingers, is placed 

 in strong spirit for a day or two. This gives it a 

 very hard, 'horny consistence, and it is easy, with u 

 sharp knife or razor wetted with the spirit, to get one 

 or two thin sections from the end. These are placed 

 on a slide, a drop of the acidulated logwood is added 

 and left in contact with them until they are suffi- 

 ciently stained. It is then carefully washed away 

 by a drop or two of water applied from a pipette ; 

 and finally a little glycerine is placed upon a cover- 

 glass, which is then inverted over the preparation. 



It will be seen that the tendon is divided into 

 fasciculi by septa of areola tissue, the corpuscles of 

 which (seen edgeways) are brought into view, being 

 stained by the logwood ; it will further be observed 

 if the sectional area of one of the smaller fasciculi 

 is attentively examined with a high power, that it 

 again is divided (although incompletely) into several 

 still smaller bundles by the branching processes of 

 deeply colored stellate bodies situate at the angle of 

 junction between three or more such bundles, and 

 extending a greater or less distance between the 

 neighboring bandies. These stellate bodies, with 

 their processes, are the tendon-cells with the himcl- 



