TISSUES OF THE BODY. 



201 



whose connective-tissue is usually occupied by rich assemblages of fat- 

 cells, the neighbourhood of the kidney, the omentum, and the surface of 

 the heart. 



Again, the quantity of these collections of fat-cells, which, as a mode- 

 rately developed panniculus adiposus, imparts to the body its usual 

 plump, smooth appearance, is subject to great variation. It is usually 

 larger in proportion in the bodies of women and children than in men, 

 and during childhood than at an advanced age. We know also how 

 great the differences in. the amount of fats are in well-fed and lean 

 individuals. A body in good condition may part with all its adipose 

 tissue in consequence of continued fasting, wast- 

 ing disease, or a dropsical infiltration of the con- 

 nective-tissue, and regain it all again rapidly with 

 the return of health. The fact that we fre- 

 quently find in very lean corpses a preservation 

 of the cells, although their contents have dis- 

 appeared, seems to point to the conclusion that the 

 latter are more or less permanent structures, in 

 which, on subsequent return to embonpoint, the 

 fluid contents can be expelled by the deposit of 

 fat. 



In exaggerated degrees of obesity, such as may 

 be produced in domestic animals by cramming, we 

 meet 'with fat-cells in situations in which they 

 do not otherwise occur; for instance, in the soft 

 connective-tissue between the fibres of voluntary 

 muscles (fig. 194), where it may, to a certain 

 extent, impair the functions of the organ. The 

 same is the case in muscular parts which have 

 not been used for a long time. But we must 

 discriminate between such fatty infiltration of 



muscle and fatty degeneration, in which the structure is destroyed by a 

 deposit of the substance in question in the interior of the fibre. 



By fatty tumours or lipomas we understand new formations of con- 

 nective-tissue loaded with oil globules. 



Adipose tissue is to be found in the bodies of all vertebrate animals, 

 but in very varying quantity and with different anatomical distribution. 



REMARKS. Collections of adipose tissue on the exterior of synovial capsules force 

 the latter inwards at times in folds, producing thus the glandules vmicilaginosce of 

 Havers. 



123. 



In the fat-cells we have the receptacles for the physiological deposit 

 of the neutral fats of the body. Their repletion with the latter must 

 be looked upon, further, as the normal state at a certain period of life, 

 while poverty in this respect must be designated as an abnormal con- 

 dition. Why these cells above all others possess the power of taking up 

 fat is a question we are still unable to answer. 



We have already considered (pp. 26-28) the neutral fats of the human 

 body, and referred to the unsatisfactory state of our acquaintance with 

 them at present : it would be superfluous, therefore, to enter again on 

 the subject at this place. 



As we have seen there, the fatty substances of the system consist of 



Fig. 194. Muscle with fatty 

 infiltration. o, three 

 muscle fibres; 6, fat-cells 

 in the interstitial connec- 

 tive-tissue. 



