12 



OUR BODIES AND HOW WE LIVE 



FIG. 6. White Fibrous Tissue. 

 Highly magnified. 



sort of flexible frame for the body and may be said to serve 

 as packing, binding, or supporting tissues. This name 

 includes tissues which vary greatly in their appearance. 



20. Connective Tissues with White and Elastic Fibers. 

 If we take a bit of well-cooked corned beef and tease it 



apart with a needle, we shall 

 find something that looks 

 like the fluff of cotton wool. 

 This is one kind of connec- 

 tive tissue. Now, if we look 

 at the tiniest fibrils of the 

 beef under the microscope, 

 we shall see wavy bundles 

 of white fibers running in all 

 directions. These are known 

 as white fibrous tissue. Across these bundles run other fine 

 fibers which branch and coil up like a broken spring and 

 are highly elastic. These are known as yellow elastic tissue. 

 The connective tissue with white fibers sometimes forms 

 a very thin sheet, as in the delicate 

 covering of bone known as the 

 periosteum, or it may be made up 

 into ropelike bands, as in the liga- 

 ments of joints and the tendons 

 of muscles.. It is the connective 

 tissue with the yellow elastic fibers 

 which makes the coats of the arter- 

 ies, and certain ligaments, elastic. 



21. Areolar Tissue. This is a 

 form of connective tissue which 



makes a protective covering for important organs. It con- 

 sists of bundles of delicate fibers which interlace and cross 



FIG. 7. Yellow Elastic 



Tissue. 

 Highly magnified. 



