FIBRILLAR CONNECTIVE TISSUE. 77 



with a cold knife. Henle and Stadelmann* were the first to 

 see the transverse sections of the fibrils in sections of dry 

 tendon. 



Sections made from frozen or dry tendons, when treated with 

 acetic acid, are so acted on that the edges of the divided fasciculi 

 curl up, as a consequence apparently of the rapid swelling that 

 takes place in the direction of their transverse diameter. A 

 peculiar appearance is thus presented, which was first described 

 by Bonders,-)- and more recently by Gerlach,J and Machik. 

 The involuted edges cross each other in the form of broad 

 bands with transversely striated surfaces and sinuous borders. 



The fibrils and fasciculi of fibrils of connective tissue are 

 differently disposed in different instances. [| The fasciculi may 

 either run parallel to one another, or unite at very acute angles, 

 as in tendons and ligaments ; or the variously sized fasciculi, as 

 they decussate at different angles, may divide and again unite 

 to form a thicker or thinner felt-like layer, through which three 

 sections perpendicular to each other may be so carried as that 

 one may strike all the bundles principally in the longitudinal 

 direction, whilst the other two present fibres running in an 

 oblique and transverse direction. In either of the two latter 

 sections the fasciculi may run chiefly in one or other direction, 

 and thus transitional forms may originate, passing into a 

 parallel arrangement. The modes of arrangement above de- 

 scribed are found principally in the skin and other membranes 

 composed of connective tissue. 



A peculiar arrangement of the fasciculi occurs in the serous 

 membranes, and is most beautifully displayed in the peritoneum 

 of man (fig. 3) and many mammals. The fasciculi of fibrils 

 coursing in this thin membrane, by their frequent division and 



* Sectiones transversce, etc., Diss. inaug., 1844 ; Henle's Jahresbericht, 

 1844, p. 15. 



f Hollandische Beitrage, Band i., p. 258. 



| Handbuch der Gewebelehre, Mainz, 1850, p. 110, fig. 42. 



Sitzungsberichte der Wiener Akademie, Band xxxiv., p. 91. 



|| Bruch, Zeitschrift fur Eationelle Hedicin, Band vii., pp. 378 and 379. 

 Ley dig, Histologie des Menschen und der Thiere. Frankfurt, p. 79. 

 liollett, Sitzungsberichte der Wiener Akademie, Band xxx., p. 45, et seq. 



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