220 SKIN, HAIR, AND NAILS, BY ALFRED BIESIADECKI. 



stances, the variation depending on the succulency of the indi- 

 vidual, and under pathological conditions, as, for example, in 

 osdema of the skin, becoming very considerable. In the interior 

 of the fasciculi of connective tissue, or in the spaces between 

 them, fusiform cells lie scattered. In cedematous skin, where 

 the cells and fibres run in an isolated manner through the 

 oedematous fluid, it may be clearly seen that the connective- 

 tissue cells consist of a granular mass of protoplasm, with two 

 very long processes, that are usually given off from the oppo- 

 site poles, but besides which are several that consist for some 

 distance of granular material, though at a somewhat more dis- 

 tant point they assume the smooth appearance of a connective- 

 tissue fibril. Such processes may be followed for a considerable 

 distance into the fasciculi of connective tissue. 



From this circumstance we may be permitted to draw the 

 conclusion that in these cases, in accordance with the observa- 

 tions of Kusnetzoff on the skin of the embryo, the connective- 

 tissue cells are continuous with connective-tissue fibrils. 



In addition to the connective-tissue cells with long processes 

 described above, we meet also with fusiform and round cells, 

 resembling in their size and other characters the colourless 

 corpuscles, as well as others that are larger, and possess a 

 strongly granular protoplasm, in which a round or elliptical 

 nucleus may, though perhaps indistinctly, be seen. The small 

 round cells occur chiefly in the vicinity of the bloodvessels. 

 On the other hand, we find numerous intermediate or transi- 

 tional forms between the small round and the large cells that 

 are provided with connective-tissue processes, and this not only 

 in regard to the size of the cells, but also to the length of their 

 processes. 



At present we possess no precise information in reference 

 to the development of the fat cells. Their relation to the 

 blood corpuscles is worthy of notice. Nearly every fat cell is 

 surrounded by a capillary bloodvessel, and to each fat lobule 

 occupying a mesh of the subcutaneous connective tissue is dis- 

 tributed an arterial and a venous trunklet, between which a 

 delicate capillary network is extended. 



Through the subcutaneous connective tissue larger blood- 

 vessels run to the corium, giving off branches to the fat lobules, 



