204 CONNECTIVE TISSUE. 



plicity of the methods used, other investigators would encounter 

 no difficulty in producing what I had produced and seeing what 

 I had seen. But what happened was just the contrary. A large 

 bulk of literature was produced on this subject; nevertheless, 

 almost all observers failed in bringing to view the connections 

 existing between the cartilage corpuscles. Some claimed that it 

 was the synovial liquid which assumed, on treatment with nitrate 

 of silver, the figures I described; others that the connections 

 between the cartilage cavities could be found only in the super- 

 ficial portions of the condyles ; still others believed the forma- 

 tions seen by me to be artificial products, due to a precipitation of 

 the metal-salt I had employed. All, however, agreed that the 

 light reticula which eventually became visible in the silver- 

 stained specimen were only juice-canals, according to views 

 taken by Von Recklinghausen. 



Meanwhile I had convinced many hundred students, in my 

 laboratory in New York, that the cartilage corpuscles are really 

 connected with each other, and an unprejudiced observer, L. 

 Elsberg (see page 138), publicly announced his conviction of 

 the correctness of my assertions. 



In the first place, there could be no doubt that the negative 

 image produced by the silver in every respect answers to the 

 positive image brought out by the gold. The negative silver 

 image obtained from the border of the condyles, where the hya- 

 line cartilage begins to change into fibrous cartilage (see Fig. 

 75), fully corresponds with the positive gold image produced in 

 the same place. Fig. 77 is an illustration of specimens which 

 for years I have used for demonstrations in my laboratory. 



Secondly, I was desirous of satisfying myself if the method 

 of treatment with silver was really so unreliable as claimed by 

 some writers. I gave Dr. W. Hassloch, a physician of unusual 

 cleverness, attending my laboratory in 1878, my printed pam- 

 phlet containing directions for procedure, and the fresh condyles 

 of a human foetus, six months old. A few days later, without 

 any further advice on my part, the gentleman showed me a 

 large number of specimens, exhibiting images precisely similar 

 to those illustrated in Fig. 78. The identity of the light spaces 

 with cartilage corpuscles was beautifully demonstrated in the 

 thin sections, where dark brown layers were directly followed by 

 slightly stained or unstained layers. 



I admit, however, that my assertions would not have deserved 

 much attention had the staining methods with nitrate of silver 



