APPENDIX. 

 I. 



ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE SYNOVIAL MEMBRANES. 

 BY EDWARD ALBERT. 



BICHAT long ago distinguished the synovial membranes from the 

 true serous membranes, and divided them into two classes : (1) The 

 capsules of the tendinous sheaths synovial capsules ; and (2) the 

 synovial membranes of the joints. No alteration has been made in 

 this arrangement since his time by anatomists, and the only subject 

 of inquiry has been whether the epithelial investment of the synovial 

 membrane of the joints also covers the surfaces of the cartilages. 

 The researches of H liter,* which appeared in 1866, first gave results 

 that appeared to displace the synovial membranes from the position 

 they so long maintained in the scheme of the membranes of the 

 human body. 



From the results obtained by the silvering method, Hiiter denied the 

 existence of an endothelium, and maintained that the synovial mem- 

 brane was lined by a special modification of connective tissue, the 

 iform of which sometimes resembled an endothelium, sometimes the 

 gerous-canal markings of the cornea (epithelioid and keratoid con- 

 nective tissue). The modification which the method of v. Reckling- 

 hausen experienced at the hands of Schweigger-Seidelf has given results 

 opposed to the statements of Hiiter, and Schweigger-Seidel has en- 

 deavoured to prove the existence of an epithelium from the presence of 

 nuclei which he finds to be regularly arranged upon the surface. 



* Virchow's Archiv, Band xxxvi.; and Klinik der Gelenk-Krankheiten, 

 1870. 

 f Arbeiten aus der physiologischen Anstatt zu Leipzig, I860. 



