CONNECTIVE TIS8UE. 



171 



RESEARCHES ON THE MICROSCOPICAL STRUCTURE OF THE CORNEA. 

 BY WILLIAM HASSLOCH, OF NEW YORK.* 



It is generally acknowledged that the substantia propria of the cornea is 

 made up of fibrils united into fascicles ; that the majority of these bundles, 

 by being more or less parallel to the surface of the cornea, form the lami- 

 nated structure of the latter, at the same time crossing one another, and so 

 giving rise to a kind of lattice-work ; while other fibers and bundles traverse 

 the cornea in various directions. The fibrils, as well as the fascicles and 

 lamellae, are connected with one another by an intermediate cement-sub- 

 stance, which somewhat differs from the fibrils in its chemical reaction. 



MossCNsCmN.Y. 



FIG. 63. LAMELLA OF THE CORNEA OF A GROWN CAT, STAINED WITH 

 CHLORIDE OF GOLD, AFTER PREVIOUS TREATMENT WITH DILUTE LAC- 

 TIC ACID. 



C, dark violet nucleated cornea corpuscles, traversing the pale violet granular basis- 

 substance, B. N, nerve-fibrill, connecting with cornea corpuscles. Magnified 500 

 diameters. 



But, concerning the relation of the protoplasm to the basis-substance, 

 observers are of very different opinions. Some of them do not admit the 

 existence of the protoplasmic bodies at all, asserting that within the basis- 

 substance of the cornea only a tubular system is present, lined with " cell- 

 plates." Other histologists hold the view that there is a certain quantity of 

 protoplasm (cells of the cornea) inclosed in the " serous spaces," in which it 

 ramifies, but which it does not completely fill. One of the most prominent 

 advocates of the latter opinion is W. Waldeyer,t deriving his views chiefly 



"Archives of Ophthalmology and Otology," vol. vii., 1878. 

 t Article " Cornea," in Graefe-Saemisch's Hand-book, 1874. 



