58 THE CONNECTIVE TISSUES, BY A. EOLLETT. 



pose the thin fascise of the frog and of warm-blooded animals 

 are very appropriate, as are also the thin flexor tendons of the 

 fingers and toes of the frog, newt, or salamander, which can 

 be drawn out at one end from the double-capped fingers or 

 toes. We may here see small fusiform granular masses contain- 

 ing delicate elongated nuclei intercalated amongst the parallel 

 fibres of the several fasciculi. In comparison with the cells 

 of the looser connective tissue, the granular substance of 

 these cells appears to be much reduced in amount. In the 

 above-mentioned tendons there also appear more rounded, 

 serially arranged, and somewhat flattened cells with well- 

 defined round nuclei. These do not lie upon the surface, but 

 in the elongated fusiform interstices of the fibrous material. 

 Such chains of cells have their greatest dimensions in the 

 broadest part of the fusiform spaces. At the border of the 

 above-mentioned tendons a thinner portion of the investing 

 connective tissue is generally to be found traversed by nume- 

 rous fibres in which the above-described cells of the loose con- 

 nective tissue can be very well observed ; but besides these, 

 stellate cells may also be seen, which give off sharply bor- 

 dered trabeculse, that present a smoother appearance, give off 

 branches, and may be followed for a considerable distance 

 between the fibres of the investing connective tissue. The 

 behaviour of the cells present in connective tissue, when treated 

 with chemical reagents, now requires a more extended exami- 

 nation. 



The migratory cells are best adapted for investigation in this 

 respect, on account of their having been already so long known 

 as the white corpuscles. In regard to other cells, the observa- 

 tions made by Kiihne on his specimens may be adduced. Water 

 acts energetically on the finely granular cells in particular, the 

 granular material contracting around the nucleus, and only 

 remaining connected with the surrounding parts by means of 

 a few anastomosing processes. The meshes of the network 

 thus formed are clear, and a few granules presenting molecular 

 movements may be observed in their interior. The nucleus 

 first swells up, and exhibits vacuolse in its interior, and, after 

 undergoing many changes of form, finally contracts into a 

 shrivelled corpuscle. 



