36 ANATOIMY FOR NURSES [Chap. IV 



not a prominent feature of this tissue. The fibres may be some 



inches long, do not branch, and confer a distinctly fibrous aspect 



on the parts which they compose. 



' ' ■ Fibrous tissue is white, with a 



^ ,^, ^ peculiarly shining, silvery aspect. 



It is exceedingly strong and tough, 



yet perfectly pliant ; but it is almost 



devoid of extensibilitv and is very 



1^' I sparingly supplied with nerves and 



j blood-vessels. 



j Elastic tissue. — In elastic tissue 



Q ' I the wavj' white bundles are com- 



^- ! paratively few and indistinct, and 



: there is a proportionate develop- 



,. / ment of the elastic fibres. When 



present in large numbers, they give 



a yellowish color to the tissue. This 



Fig. 15. — Fibrocs Tissue, from form of connective tissue is extensile 

 THE Longitudinal Section of a , , . . i i • i 



Tendon. The spaces between the and elastic in the highest degree, 



Te'^:.'''tiZ:iZ\T'^'''''"^' ^^^ wherever located, .does such 



work as India rubber would do. 

 It is not so strong as the fibrous variety, and breaks across 

 the direction of its fibres wiien forcibly stretched. 



Function. — These three varieties of connective tissue (areolar, 

 fibrous, clastic) agree closely with one another in elementary 

 structure. It is the different arrangement of the cells and fibres, 

 and the relative proportion of one kind of fibre to the other, that 

 gives them their different characteristics. They are used for purely 

 mechanical purposes. 



Areolar tissue forms web-like binding and supporting material 

 and serves to connect and insulate entire organs. It is one of the 

 most general and most extensively distributed of the tissues. 

 It is, moreover, continuous throughout the body, and from one 

 region it may be traced without interruption into any other, how- 

 ever distant, — a fact not without interest in practical medicine, 

 seeing that in this way air, water, pus and other fluids, effused 

 into the areolar tissue, may spread far from the spot where they 

 were first introduced or deposited. 



Fibrous tissue is met with in the form of : — 



