388 SPECIAL HISTOLOGY. 



to remark, that the vitreous body of the new-born child exhibited 

 a very distinct and peculiar fibrous structure, consisting in fact 

 of a close network of fibres, presenting at nodular enlarge- 

 ments [where the fibres join] " minute nuclear granules re- 

 sembling oil-particles, but not soluble in ether;" the whole 

 exhibiting "a peculiar fibrous texture not at all unlike that of 

 the enamel pulp" in the foetal tooth-sac, that is to say, to its 

 gelatiniform connective tissue. This agrees pretty nearly with 

 what Virchow has recently found. According to the latter 

 author, the vitreous body of a foetal Pig, 4'" long, consists of a 

 homogeneous substance, containing mucus, and faintly striated 

 at distant spots, in which round nucleated granular cells lie, 

 scattered at regular distances apart. This substance is sur- 

 rounded by a delicate membrane, with very elegant vascular 

 networks and a fine fibrous areolated mesh-work containing 

 nuclei at the nodular intersections, and also enclosing in its 

 meshes a gelatinous mucus with rounded cells. Consequently, 

 and also because he found mucus in the vitreous body in the 

 adult, Virchow believes that the tissue of the foetal corpus 

 vitreum should be ranked with what he terms " mucous tissue," 

 corresponding with my gelatinous connective tissue (§ 24); and 

 that it might be assumed that, in the course of development, 

 the structure may so change that the cells disappear and the 

 intercellular substance alone remains. As regards my own 

 views, I can only partially agree with these authors. In the 

 vitreous body of the human foetus and of that of animals, I 

 can perceive nothing but a homogeneous matrix containing 

 mucus and numerous round or elongated granular, nucleated 

 cells, 0*004 — 0*01'" in size, dispersed in it at pretty regular 

 distances of 0-01 — 0*02"', or even 003"' apart. It is true I 

 have also noticed stelliform anastomosing cells also, but only 

 on the outer side of the hyaloid membrane, and which, when 

 the vessels once began to convey blood, could be easily shown 

 to communicate with them, and to be, in fact, capillaries in 

 process of development. Of membranes, such as Hannover 

 describes, I have never seen any certain indication with the 

 microscope; and yet such membranes, did they exist, would 

 incontestably be as easily recognised, where they are folded, as 

 the excessively delicate hyaloid membrane itself. In the 

 vitreous body of the adult, of the previous conditions there was 



