ARTICULATIONS AND DEHISCENCES. 119 



difference will very often be shown in the description 

 and history of the compound organs. I only mention 

 the articulations here for the purpose of considering 

 their anatomical structure. When we examine minutely 

 the articulations in their young and fresh state, we only 

 remark the cellules and vessels continuous and regular ; 

 but, nevertheless, we almost always observe a little 

 swelling or small knot, which indicates the point of 

 the articulation ; after a certain time this swelling 

 augments, and a row of cellules, disposed upon the 

 same plane, either dry up and are obliterated, or separate 

 from the neighbouring row : then the fibres alone form 

 the communication between the two parts ; but as they 

 are no longer bound together by the surrounding cellular 

 tissue, they are broken by the slightest shake. The part 

 exposed by the fall of the organ, which was attached by 

 means of an articulation, is called a Cicatrice : we here 

 distinctly perceive the places where the fibres were broken, 

 but the cellular tissue proves, by its smooth surface, that 

 its separation has taken place without true rupture. 



The organs attached by such an articulation are said 

 to be ARTICULATED ; the others are called adherent 

 or CONTINUOUS ; the former are caducous, the latter 

 persistent. There are organs, which, as we shall see, 

 are themselves composed of parts articulated with one 

 another ; these are called Articuli, when they are con- 

 sidered in a general manner ; they receive, in different 

 cases, particular names, v/hich we will notice hereafter. 



The Cicatrice is always more visible upon the larger 

 of the two surfaces which are disarticulated, and it is 

 usually to this alone that this name is applied ; some- 

 times, consequently, the Cicatrice is marked upon the 

 permanent organ ; such is that which the leaf leaves 

 after its fall, — those which the annual stems leave upon 

 certain root-stocks, as in Solomon's Seal, — or those wliich 



