

FIBRILLAR CONNECTIVE TISSUE. 73 



Mucin* On account of the mechanical alteration which 

 the connective tissue fibrils undergo by this procedure, it 

 may reasonably be admitted that a solution has taken place 

 of a cementing substance occupying the interspaces between, 

 and binding together, the fibrous elements ."f" Wherever the 

 fasciculi of the connective tissue appear separated to a con- 

 siderable distance from one another, an intervening material of 

 this kind may be directly observed. Statements in accordance 

 with this were first made by Schwann, and subsequently by 

 Henle, the meshes of the arachnoid being particularly alluded 

 to by the last-named author .J 



Kiihne demonstrates the possession of quite definite me- 

 chanical peculiarities by the homogeneous substance interven- 

 ing between the muscles of the frog which only contains scattered 

 fibrils. A separation of connective tissue into fibrils can also be 

 attained through the chemical action of permanganate of potash. || 

 Connective tissue, when acted on by permanganate of potash, 

 becomes stained of a brown colour ; and if it be then treated 

 with boiling nitric acid and ammonia, it no longer assumes a 

 yellow colour. Connective tissue that has been well washed,1F 

 furnishes only feeble indications of the xantho-proteinic acid 

 reaction.** The same occurs with tendons that have undergone 

 calcification. It thus appears that it is not the collagenous 

 substance which causes all insufficiently purified connective 

 tissue to become stained yellow with these reagents. f f The 

 fibrils of the connective tissue, and the fasciculi which they 

 form, undergo a peculiar change at a high temperature. When 

 placed in boiling water, they rapidly contract, becoming shorter 

 but much thicker than in the fresh condition, and at the same 



* Rollett, Sitzungsberichte der Wiener Akademie, Band xxxix., p. 308. 

 Eichwald, Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie, Band cxxxiv., p. 177. 



t Rollett, Sitzungsberichte der Wiener Akademie, Band xxx., p. 43. 



\ Henle, Allgemeine Anatomic, p. 349. 



Kiihne, Lehrbuch der Physiologischen Chemie. Leipzig, 1866, p. 359. 



|| Rollett, Sitzungsberichte der Wiener Akademie, Band xxxiii., p. 519, 

 et seq. 



If Rollett, loc. cit., Band xxxiii., p. 523. 

 ** Bonders, Hollandische Beitrdge, Band i., 1848, p. 67. 



tt Paulsen, Observations Microchemicae . Mitau, 1849. 



