158 CONNECTIVE TISSUE. 



Around the territory a connective-tissue capsule originates, in 

 a way similar to the formation of the myxomatous reticulum of 

 fibers, and the nucleus in the capsule of the fat-globule is analo- 

 gous to the nuclei found at the points of intersection of the 

 myxomatous reticulum. 



(2) Striated or Fibrous Connective Tissue. The term " connect- 

 ive tissue" was employed by Johannes Miiller, in 1835, for desig- 

 nating the tela cellulosa of older anatomists. B. Reichert, in 1845, 

 first maintained the continuity of this tissue, and, considering 

 it to be structureless, attributed the fibrous appearance to the 

 presence of folds or striations. Virchow, in 1851, demonstrated 

 the presence of corpuscles, the supposed hollow and so-called 

 " connective-tissue cells," imbedded in the fibrous intercellular 

 substance ; and W. Kiihiie, in 1864, proved by the means of 

 electricity that these corpuscles possess vital properties viz., 

 contractility. 



At present we know that the tissue corpuscles, being bioplas- 

 son formations, are imbedded in cavities of the basis-substance. 

 The latter is eminently glue-yielding, and composed of numerous 

 delicate spindles, arranged in lines. It is only after teasing of 

 the specimen that an isolated fiber is discovered, while in the 

 continuity of the tissue isolated fibers are not observed. 



We know, furthermore, that the fibrous basis-substance (syn- 

 onymous with the matrix and intercellular substance of former 

 histologists) is traversed by a delicate reticulum of living matter, 

 whose meshes present an almost uniformly rectangular arrange- 

 ment. This reticulum is visible within delicate bundles in speci- 

 mens preserved in chromic acid, without the addition of any 

 re-agents; or in other specimens by the use of re-agents, as 

 described before (page 122). The alcohol treatment (page 141) 

 also serves for bringing the reticulum to view. 



The basis-substance varies greatly in its degrees of density. 

 It is very dense in the tendon, the sclerotic, the cornea, and less 

 dense in the formations termed a loose connective tissue." The 

 delicate spindles, which constitute the fibrillae by coalescing in a 

 longitudinal direction, are separated from each other by a less 

 dense so-called cement-substance, while bundles of fibers are 

 separated from each other by a more liquid substance, which, as 

 a rule, contains, besides the blood-vessels and lymphatics, numer- 

 ous plastids, all being connected with each other as well as with 

 the walls of the vessels and the reticulum in the basis-substance 

 proper. In some varieties of this tissue the basis-substance, 



