332 



MANUAL OF HISTOLOGY. 



like other connective-tissue membranes, by dissolving out the 

 cementing substance in a 10 per cent, solution of common salt. 

 With the exception of tlivfibrcearcuatce, which curve for- 

 ward through several strata in the anterior portions of the 

 cornea, the fibres pursue the same direction as the layers ; but, 

 although most of the fibres run parallel to the surface of the 

 cornea, yet they may have a different direction in each layer, 



FIG. 151. Meridional section through the cornea of the human adult, from an eye hardened in Mill- 

 er's fluid. The section was colored with carmine, and made transparent by the oil of cloves. 



so that when viewed from above the fibres will appear to cross 

 one another. This explains the formation of the stellate fig- 

 ures which are sometimes observed after the injection of fatty 

 substances into the cornea, or by the infiltration of bacteria 

 between the fibrils. 



In the interfibrillar material are found the lymph- canals 

 and spaces, which contain the fixed corneal corpuscles (Fig. 

 152). These spaces are stellate and broad when seen from above, 

 but thin and spindle-shaped on side view ; they have numer- 

 ous branches and branchlets given off from them at right 

 angles (lymphatic channels) (Fig. 152, A). The spaces and 

 branches usually lie in the plane of the lamellae, anastomose 

 freely with one another, and are filled with the corneal corpus- 

 cles and lymph (Fig. 152, B). 



