CARTILAGE 



549 



cells. In size, the cells vary very much, some being as 

 small as 10/ii, and others as large as 50/i, or even larger. 



As the cartilage dies, and especially if water is added 

 to it, the protoplasmic bodies of the cells shrink and 

 become irregularly drawn away from the walls of the 

 cavities which contain them, and the appearance of the 

 tissue is greatly altered. 



Fio. 177.— A Small Portion of a Section of Articular Cartilaqb 

 (Frog) very highly magnified (600 diam.). 



s, matrix or intercellular substance ; p, the protoplasmic body of the 

 cartilage corpuscle ; n, its nucleus, with n\ nucleoli ; c, the capsule, or 

 wall of the cavity in which the cartilage corpuscle lies. The four cells 

 here figured seem to have arisen from a single cell, by division, first into 

 two and then into four. The shading of the matrix in an oi)lique line 

 indicates the earlier division into two. 



No structure is discernible in the matrix or intercellular 

 substance under ordinary circumstances ; but it may be 

 split up into thin sheets or laminse. The portions of 

 matrix immediately surrounding the several cavities some- 

 times differ in appearance and nature from the rest of 

 the matrix, so as to constitute distinct capsules (Fig. 



