394 THE CORNEA, BY ALEXANDER ROLLETT. 



slenderer fasciculi, or even separate fibres, are met with, which 

 last are clearly divisions of the former. 



The present doctrine of the fibrous structure of the cornea 

 has been arrived at, from its being recognized that the fasciculi 

 and fibres obtained by these mechanical modes of preparation 

 pre-exist. And just as the fasciculi and fibres of the fibrillar 

 connective tissue, so also are those of the cornea isolable, not 

 only by simple mechanical means, but also by means of certain 

 chemical reagents; and in both cases this constitutes the best 

 counter- argument to the objections that have been raised 

 against the pre-existence of the fibrils. 



The best means of exhibiting the fibrillation of the corneal 

 tissue is by the application of a solution of permanganate of 

 potash, or of a mixture of this salt and alum,* a fluid that 



Fig. 381. 



Fig. 381. Fragments of the tissue of the cornea of an Ox, treated 

 with permanganate of potash, and detached from each other by 

 agitation with water. Slightly magnified. 



also very beautifully breaks up the fibrillar connective tissue 

 into fibres. Portions of cornea thus treated assume a brown 

 tint, and then break up when shaken with water into longitu- 

 dinally striated band- like fasciculi (fig. 381), and then again 

 into smaller divisions, and into individual fibrils also running 

 longitudinally. 



The disintegrating action of the permanganate of potash 



Rollett, loc. cit., p. 519. 



