48 GENERAL ANATOMY OF THE TISSUES. 



b. The contractile fibre cells : fusiform, slightly flattened, 

 considerably elongated cells, whose membrane, together with 

 its soft, solid contents, is changed into a contractile substance. 

 In the smooth muscles. 



c. The tubules of the lens : very much elongated cells, with 

 viscid, albuminous contents. 



d. The prisms of the enamel : greatly elongated, prismatic, 

 and strongly calcified cells. 1 



e. The bone cells : thickened cells with pore canals which 

 have coalesced with the homogeneous matrix of the bones and 

 anastomose by means of excavations in it. 



/. The transversely striated muscular cells : large polygonal 

 cells, whose contents have become metamorphosed into a trans- 

 versely striated tissue, such as is found in the transversely 

 striated muscular fibre. In the endocardium of ruminants. 



B. HIGHER ELEMENTARY PARTS. 



§ 19. 



The higher elementary parts correspond, genetically, to a whole 

 series of the simple ones, and it is the cells only, so far as we 

 know, which possess the faculty of producing them. The 

 manner in which this takes place varies. Either the cells 

 while they coalesce retain their cellular nature, and to a certain 

 extent their independence, in which case we have, according as 

 they are fusiform or stellate cells, cell-fibres or cell-reticulations ; 

 or the cells in uniting totally surrender their independence, in 

 which case they form, if they are arranged in lines, elongated 

 elementary parts ; or are united by many offsets, — networks ; or 

 are fused together upon all sides, — membranes. The two former 

 of these again, according to the kind of modification undergone 

 by the contents of the united cells, appear either as fibres, 

 bundles of fibrilla and tubes, or as fibre-networks and tubular 

 plexuses. Since all these elementary parts will be spoken of at 

 length afterwards, among the tissues, we may here simply 

 enumerate them as follows. They are : 



a. The cell-fibres and cell-networks. — To these belong a part 

 of the nuclear fibres of authors, the cartilage cells of certain 



1 [Vide infra, § on the Teeth. — Eds.] 



