54 



CALCIFICATION. 



mate coalescencGj Avlicn tliey can no longer be individually dis- 

 tinguished. Now, since the matrix retains its former bulk after 

 calcification is completed, it is clear that the earthy salts cannot 

 have been superadded to its proper substance in particles as lai'ge 

 as the granules in question ; hence we are compelled to assume 

 that each granule is made up of matrix i?lus earthy salts. 



So lono: as calcification 

 does not extend beyond the 

 matrix, the appearance pre- 

 sented to us is that of a white 

 and glistening reticulated net- 

 work, whose tenuity is pro- 

 portionate to the amount of 

 space occupied by the cells 

 and the consequent width of 

 the intervening trabeculai of 

 intercellular substance (fig. 

 18). RoJdtanski describes, in 

 addition, a segmentation of 

 the matrix into spheroidal 

 masses, which is especially frequent in the fibro-cartilages and 

 in enchondromata. My own observations confirm his state- 

 ments. The appearances in question must not be confounded 

 with those presented by the earthy granules. RokitansU very 

 justly compares them with the calcification of fibrillated intercel- 

 lular substances. * 



Calcification of cartilage. Transverse 

 section through a loose cartilage 

 of the elbow joint, -^~. 



riG. 19. 



Transverse section througli an ossified 

 pleuritic false membrane (after ii'o- 

 kitamki). 



'"' This appearance of spheroidal seg- 

 mentation is beautifully exemplified in 

 the calcification of tendons, Trherc it has 

 been most elaborately investigated by 

 Lieberlnllin {Ecichcrt und Duhois, Archiv, 

 1860, No. 6, p. 824 seqq.). Between the 

 discoidal figures presented by the fibrillee 

 in transverse section, interstices of vari- 

 able size are occasionally seen ; these are 

 often deceptively like bone corpuscles, 

 on account of their jagged and excavated 

 margins. A little thought is enough to 

 convince us, -without our having to recur 

 to longitudinal sections for aid, that tvg 

 have to do, not with independent ele- 

 ments, but with appearances due entirely 



