170 



CONNECTIVE TISSUE. 



while faint traces of these corpuscles become perceptible, exhibit- 

 ing a few scanty offshoots. The shape of these corpuscles varies 

 greatly in different portions of the cornea, as well as in the cor- 

 nea of different animals. 



A clear idea of the nature of the cornea corpuscles can be 

 obtained only by resorting to re-agents. Von Recklinghausen 

 (1862) first brought to view the beautiful light and branching 

 spaces in a dark basis-substance by applying nitrate of silver. 

 He considered them as lymph-spaces or juice-canals, supposing 

 them to be the beginnings of the lymphatics proper. In these 

 spaces, he thought, the "cornea-cells" were suspended. (See 

 Fig. 62.) 



FIG. 62. LAMELLA OF THE CORNEA OF A GROWN CAT, STAINED 

 WITH NITRATE OF SILVER. 



H, light branching spaces with serrated edges, traversing the dark brown granular 

 basis-substance. S, F, fibers connecting the lamellae and torn by the process of splitting the 

 lamellae. Magnified 500 diameters. 



Later researches have shown that the " lymph-spaces " of the 

 cornea are closely related to the cornea-cells, which were mean- 

 while demonstrated by W. Kuehne (1864) and others to be 

 composed of contractile protoplasm, and endowed with properties 

 of life. The method of gold-staining has proved to be the most 

 valuable for revealing the structure of the cornea corpuscles and 

 their relation to the basis-substance. (See Fig. 63.) 



