24 CELLULAR TEXTURE. 



gle organic parts, called the primitive textures or tissues.. 

 They are commonly reduced to three the cellular, the 

 7nuscular, and the nervous. 



Emily. And do you mean that the skin, hair, nails, 

 bones, tendons, nerves and vessels, are all formed out of 

 these simple tissues alone ? It is inconceivable to me 

 how substances so different can be composed ot pre- 

 cisely the same constituent parts. However, 1 will mind 

 your caution and wait with patience for a solution of the 

 mystery. 



Dr. B. Your haste prevented me from adding that 

 the solid parts of the body only were composed by these 

 tissues, and that the solid parts of the body bear a pro- 

 portion to the fluids no greater than 1 to G some say 

 1 to 10. The solids also are not always composed of 

 animal substances ; for in some of them we find a 

 portion of earthly matter which has been deposited by 

 the fluids. 



The simplest in structure, the most abundant in quan- 

 tity, and the most extensively diffused, is the cellular 

 tissue. It enters into the composition of every organ in 

 the body. In a very condensed state it forms the main 

 bulk of the bones, tendons, ligaments, nails, hair ; in a 

 softer and loser state, we find it in the skin and the in- 

 ternal organs ; in the form of a thin membranous ex- 

 pansion, it serves as coats for the vessels and sheaths for 

 the muscular fibres. It fills up the intesstices between 

 the muscles and other parts which lie near together, and 

 gives to the whole surface of the body that beautiful 

 rour-ded outline which we were so much admiring. If 

 every other portion of the body could be removed and 

 the cellular tissue left undisturbed nearly the same form 

 and size of the body would remain. It is therefore 

 justly considered as the basis or framework on which all 

 other parts of the body are built. 



Emily. But why is it called cellular texture ; has 

 th's term reference to its mode of structure, meaning: 

 that it appears in the form of cells ? 



