Chap.V.] 



CHAPTER V. 



FIBROUS CONNECTIVE TISSUES. 



35. BY the name of " connective tissues " we 

 designate a variety of tissues which have these things 

 in common that they are developed from the same 

 embryonal elements ; that they all more or less serve 

 as supporting tissue or framework, or connecting sub- 

 stance, for nervous, muscular, glandular, and vascular 

 tissues ; that they are capable of taking one another's 

 place in the different classes of animals; that in the 

 embryo and in the growing condition one may be 

 changed into the other ; and that in the adult they 

 gradually shade off one into the other. 



Connective tissues are divided into the three great 

 groups of (1) fibrous connective tissue; (2) cartilage; 

 (3) bone, to which may be added dentine. Each of 

 these is subdivided into several varieties, as will 

 appear farther on, but in all instances the ground 

 substance, or matrix, or intercellular substance, is 

 to be distinguished from the cells. In the fibrous con- 

 nective tissue the matrix yields glutin or gelatin, and 

 the cells are called connective tissue cells, or connective 

 tissue corpuscles. In the cartilage the ground sub- 

 stance yields chondrin, and the cells are called carti- 

 lage cells. In the third group the ground substance 

 contains inorganic lime salts, intimately connected 

 with a fibrous matrix, and the cells are called bone 

 cells. 



36. The fibrous connective tissue, or white 

 fibrous tissue, occurs in the skin and mucous 

 membranes, in the serous and synovial membranes, 

 in the membranes of the brain and spinal cord, in 



