STRUCTURE OF SUBCUTANEOUS CONNECTIVE TISSUE. 219 



SUBCUTANEOUS CONNECTIVE TISSUE. 



The subcutaneous connective tissue is composed of fasciculi 

 of connective tissue of various thickness, that, rising obliquely 

 from the superficial fascia extend towards the under surface of 

 the cutis. These fasciculi decussate with each other, and thus 

 form a coarse meshwork, the spaces of which are subdivided 

 by others of greater delicacy. The fasciculi are usually cylin- 

 drical, exhibit constrictions at various points like those of the 

 arachnoid membrane, and consist of a number of sinuous fibres of 

 connective tissue, between which lie numerous fusiform and 

 connective-tissue corpuscles of various forms and dimensions. 

 The subcutaneous connective tissue is in some places destitute 

 of fat, as in the eyelids, penis, ears, and scrotum, and is only from 

 1 to 1" 5 of a millimeter in thickness ; elsewhere it contains in 

 its meshes lobules of fat varying in size in different cases. When 

 provided with fat, it forms the so-called panniculus adiposus. 

 The fat lobules consist of a mass of sometimes oval, sometimes 

 oblong, and by mutual pressure polyhedric fat cells, between 

 which is a delicate plexus of blood capillaries. The fat cells 

 themselves possess a very thin membrane enclosing a single drop 

 of oily matter that is fluid during life, but otherwise usually 

 appears in a coagulated state, and which keeps the cell wall 

 so tightly stretched that it is rarely distinguishable during life. 

 It can easily be exhibited, however, by extracting the fat with 

 aether or with absolute alcohol and turpentine ; a folded, very 

 thin and transparent membrane 1 then coming into view, in the 

 interior of which a round nucleuses usually apparent. Eemains 

 of a granular substance (protoplasm), which is accumulated 

 around the nucleus, may also be frequently found ; occasionally, 

 and especially in preparations preserved in spirit, the fat 

 appears in the form of a pencil or sheaf of crystals. 



In subcutaneous connective tissue destitute of fat, the 

 above-mentioned secondary spaces are traversed by smaller 

 fasciculi and in many cases even by individual fibrils of con- 

 nective tissue, and in chromic acid preparations frequently 

 present a triangular form, and are filled with a serous fluid. 



The distance of the several fasciculi and fibrils from each 

 other varies in different people, and under different circum- 



