CHAP. XIIT.] 



PACINIAN BODIES. 



397 



municate: if some of the outer /-/<?. 75. 



capsules are punctured, their 

 fluid escapes; but those within 

 remain distended. A single 

 puncture down to the inner 

 series of capsules causes all the 

 fluid to escape, and the whole 

 to collapse; and again, the cap- 

 sules may be often peeled off in 

 succession, shewing their union 

 to be but slight. In fact, ex- 

 cept by the few bands already 

 mentioned, they are united only 

 along the stalk, and for a vari- 

 able extent at the opposite end. 

 The stalk seems to be inserted 

 into a kind of conical tube, 

 which penetrates all the capsules 

 in succession, but has its proper 

 wall, so as not to communicate 

 with the intercapsular spaces. 

 This wall connects the capsules, 

 and the fibrous tissue of the stalk 

 is gradually united with its inner 



, / n e 4.1, 1 bodies. The stalk and body, the outer and the inner 



SUrlaCe as tar as the Central Cap- system of capsules with the central cavity are seen. 



sule, where it terminates. There 

 is generally a strong union be- 

 tween a variable number of the 

 capsules, as we trace them from 

 the opposite end of the central capsule towards the surface (fig. 

 76, B, o) ; this was called by Pacini the intercapsular ligament. We 

 do not, with Henle and Kolliker, deny its existence, but have sel- 

 dom seen it reach the surface of the corpuscle. 



The wall of the capsules of the internal system often appears to 

 consist of two laminae. The inner of these contains, at intervals, 

 flattish, oval nuclei projecting inwards (fig. 76, A, d). The outer 

 is sometimes seen, as if in section, by a series of dots, representing 

 transverse or circular fibres. The capsules always exhibit a decided 

 transverse fibrillation, which in a great measure disappears on the 

 addition of acetic acid, shewing the almost complete absence of the 

 yellow fibrous tissue. The outermost capsule of all, however, 

 is invested with a network of this, as well as of the white fibrous 



