522 Dr. Gr. Thin on the Anatomy of 



of elastic tissue ; and I select it for this reason to prove the cellular origin 

 of its fibres. 



If a thin piece of the ligamentum nuchae is strongly coloured by chloride 

 of gold and gently teased in glycerine, there will be found a number of 

 oval nuclei lying loose amongst the fibres. But careful examination 

 shows similar nuclei still adhering to many of the latter ; and in some 

 instances the remains of the protoplasm of the cell can be seen around 

 the nucleus and adherent to the fibre. The nucleus and cell-remains are 

 often found at the point of the division of a fibre into two, and indicate 

 the original processes of the cell in the embryonic state. 



If a portion of the same gold-stained ligament is further placed in a 

 very strong solution of hsDmatoxylin and alum for twelve hours, and 

 then carefully spread out for examination, the appearances will be found 

 to have considerably changed. If the preparation has not been roughly 

 handled, the astringent effect of the latter solution has caused the clear 

 outlines of the individual fibres to disappear, and, in their stead, there are 

 flat bluish bands in which fine dark lines connecting oval swellings are 

 seen. The latter are the nuclei, and the lines are permeable canals in 

 the elastic fibres, which have become filled with the hsDmatoxylin solution. 

 Both these conditions are depicted in figures 15, 16, and 17, Plate X. 



The formation of the elastic substance on the surface of the cell, as 

 described by Spina in tendon, applies universally, and also holds good for 

 the cell-processes. But the part of the cell-body that does not enter into 

 the formation of this resisting substance, so far from sharing the strength 

 of the new tissue, becomes more easily disintegrated than at an earlier 

 period of its development, and can be found only when the tissue is 

 cautiously manipulated. But sufficient staining with gold, and care in 

 operating, will demonstrate the cellular origin of elastic fibres in whatever 

 tissue they occur. 



Yirchow, as is well known, vindicates for his connective-tissue corpus- 

 cles the character of a connected chain of plasmatic canals, and I have re- 

 marked above regarding the tubular nature of the fibres of the ligamentum 

 nuchse. That every elastic fibre is permeable to fluid is highly probable, 

 though not yet proven. This tubular nature of the larger fibres has pro- 

 duced one of the difficulties of the recognition of the connexion of the 

 fibre with the cell. The chloride of gold colours the protoplasm of a cell, 

 with which a fully developed fibre is continuous, a faint purple ; and when 

 the tinting is continued into the process, it is the contents of the tubular 

 space that are coloured. The elastic fibre, unless carefully examined in 

 a good light, is apt either to escape observation, or seems to run past the 

 cell without being in continuity with it. 



This difficulty has been increased by a chemical difference between the 

 cell and the elastic tissue to which it gives origin, so that many reagents 

 and modes of treatment, that by potash-lye for instance, dissolve the cell 

 but leave the fibre untouched. Hence the methods that have been most 



