VESSELS IN CARTILAGE. 



107 



the formation of loops and plexuses, as it were a tree 

 of villi (Zottenbaum) in the cartilage, and very much 

 resembling a villus of the chorion of the ovum. In fact, 

 the vessels mount up into the cartilage from the nutrient 

 artery of the bone, but only to a certain height. There 

 they form real loops, and at length break up into a fine 



Fio. 81. 



plexus of capillaries, out of which veins are ultimately 

 formed, and run out again pretty near the spot where 

 the artery entered. But the whole of the rest of the 

 mass consists of non-vascular cartilage, the corpuscles of 

 which, with a low power, look like fine points. Thus 

 there is a whole host of cartilage-corpuscles lying be- 

 tween the terminal loops and the external surface, and 

 the whole of this layer is therefore dependent for its 



Fig. 31. Section of cartilage from the calcaneum of a new-born child. C. The 

 cartilage, with its cells indicated by fine points. P. Perichondrium and adjoining 

 fibrous tissue, a. Inferior border very near to the line of junction between the 

 cartilage and the bone, with the vascular loops ascending from the nutrient artery. 

 6, 6. Vessels which make their way through the perichondrium in the direction of 

 the cartilage. 11 diameters. 



