TENDONS THEIR NUTRITION. 



123 



made a little obliquely, the lateral processes are per- 

 ceived, by means of which the cells of one row commu- 

 nicate with those of another. 



Up to the present moment the progress of the growth 

 of tendons after birth has not been made the subject of 

 a regular investigation, and it is unknown whether any 

 further multiplication of the cells takes place in them ; 

 this much, however, is certain, that the cells in many 

 places afterwards become much elongated, and the inter- 

 vals between the individual nuclei extremely great. 

 The actual structural relations, however, do not thereby 

 experience any change ; the original cells also continue 

 members of the great system of tubes, which in the per- 

 fectly developed tendon pervades the whole tissue. 



Fig. 39. Longitudinal section from the interior of the tendo Achillis of a new- 

 born child, a, a, a. Intervening bands. 6, b. Fasciculi. In both we see spindle- 

 shaped, nucleated cells, partially anastomosing, with an inter-cellular substance 

 slightly striated in a longitudinal direction, the cells being more crowded in the 

 bands, and less numerous in the fasciculi, c. Section of an interstitial blood-vessel. 

 250 diameters. 



