

CONNECTIVE TISSUE. Ill 



the views of W. Waldeyer, who maintains that the cornea corpuscles do not 

 completely fill the " serous spaces." There I saw groups of cornea corpuscles 

 which leaned mainly against one of the walls of the space, while a more 

 or less considerable portion of the latter appeared empty. A closer exam- 

 ination, however, proved that these apparent voids are artificial products, 

 namely, vacuoles. It can be observed that the eccentric cavity is situated 

 within the cornea corpuscle, and on its whole circumference is inclosed by the 

 protoplasm of the cornea corpuscle. No matter how thin the strip of pro- 

 toplasm which is interposed between the vacuole and the periphery of the 

 " serous space " may be, it is always present. It is known that such vacuoles 

 can arise from contraction of the living matter within the protoplasm. The 

 question why these contractions, perhaps as a result of the action of the 

 chloride of gold, were observed only in certain groups of cornea corpuscles, 

 remains unsolved. In the cornea of the cat I have never met with any forma- 

 tions of this kind. 



From these observations it clearly follows that a tubular system, as 

 described by Von Eecklinghausen, does not exist in the cornea at all. The light 

 fields which the silver specimens of the cornea show are not " serous 

 spaces," but protoplasmic bodies, as stated by W. Engelmann and others, viz., 

 spaces which are wholly filled with protoplasm. The strongest proof of this 

 assertion is found in the result of the method of staining the cornea with 

 chloride of gold, improved by the treatment with lactic acid, as it exhibits the 

 cornea corpuscles in perfectly clear images, which in every particular corre- 

 spond to the negative silver images. Whether an interstice filled with fluid 

 remains between the wall of the so-called serous space and the protoplasmic 

 body or not, I will not yet venture to decide ; but as the protoplasm itself 

 contains a considerable amount of fluid, it is not necessary to admit the pres- 

 ence of peripheral cavities filled with serum. Wherever an interspace between 

 a cornea corpuscle and the wall of the " serous space" can be observed,' its 

 presence depends upon the formation of a vacuole, and cannot, therefore, be 

 maintained in opposition to my view. Nor do the parenchymatous injections 

 prove anything contrary to it, for it is apparent that colored fluids, which 

 are forced into the protoplasmic spaces, will press the soft protoplasmic 

 bodies against the walls of such spaces, and thus assume the principal forms 

 of the latter. 



My observations further show that the protoplasm of the cornea cor- 

 puscles has a retiform structure, which can be demonstrated by the above- 

 described method of staining the cornea with chloride of gold. The question 

 whether or not this reticulum be an artefact should no longer be a matter of 

 dispute, since in the creeping amoeba, in colorless blood-corpuscles, and in 

 pus-corpuscles the same net-work has been demonstrated, and by photogra- 

 phy made visible even to the naked eye. That this net-work (nucleoli, bor- 

 dering layer of the nucleus, granules, and connecting threads) is the living 

 matter, the meshes of which inclose the lifeless protoplasmic fluid, is proved 

 as well by the reaction of the chloride of gold, as also by the appearances 

 observed in inflammation, which S. Strieker has so carefully studied and 

 illustrated. 



Finally, my observations show that the living matter thoroughly traverses 

 the fibrous basis-substance of the cornea in the form of an exquisitely deli- 

 cate net-work, the existence of which is proved beyond all doubt by the 

 correspondence of the negative silver with the positive gold specimens, 

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