44 



NOI^IAL HISTOLOGY. 





again into larger masses, or lobes; where aggregated and closely 

 pressed together, the normal spherical shape of the individual fat- 

 sacs gives way to a polyhedral form. 



Adipose tissue possesses a rich vascular supply, an arteriole passing 

 to each lobule, there to break up into capillary net-works, which 

 surround the individual sacs. The development of adipose tissue is 

 probably not confined to any particular kind of connective-tissue 

 cell, but may involve any of the corpuscles. The granule-cells, 

 however, seem to bear a close relation to the production of fat-tissue. 



In those elements about to become fat-cells, a few oil-drops appear 

 within the protoplasm ; these increase in size, coalesce, and gradually 

 encroach upon the cell-contents, pushing the nucleus towards the 

 periphery. This displacement progresses with the increasing volume 

 of the accumulating oil, until, finally, the once slender cell is trans- 

 formed into a distended vesicle, whose protoplasm is expanded to an 

 almost invisible layer immediately beneath the cell-wall, containing, 

 at one side, the flattened and displaced nucleus, which now appears, 

 in profile, as an attenuated crescent. Observations on starved animals 

 show that after the withdrawal and disappearance of the fatty matters, 

 the cells are capable of resuming the usual appearance and properties 



of connective-tissue corpuscles. 

 - s^ 



CARTILAGE. 



Cartilage represents a dense connective tissue in which the intgr- 

 cellular substance has undergone great condensation. Depending 



upon the variation in the 

 character of the matrix 

 between the cells, three 

 varieties of cartilage are 

 recognized hyaline, 

 elastic, and fibrous. 

 Regarded in their re- 

 lationship to the denser 

 connective tissues, the 

 order of enumeration 

 should be reversed, the 

 fibrous variety standing 

 next and differing but 

 little from tendon. Since 



FIG. 49. 



Hyaline cartilage from the rib : the cell 



lie embedded 



within the lacunae, either singly, in pairs, or in groups ; 

 matrix exhibits differentiation around the cell-spaces as more L f -i ' ' -j-U 



deeply staining areas. ^ ' ^P 1 " 



cal hyaline variety is 

 usually understood, that form first claims attention. 



Hyaline cartilage, so named from the transparent, apparently 

 homogeneous character of the intercellular matrix, enjoys a very 



