CONNECTIVE TISSUES 



Dense White Fibrous Tissue. In dense fibrous tissue the ground 

 substance is comparatively deficient. Large bundles of white 

 fibres are arranged in approximately parallel rows, and are so 

 closely packed as to form a dense, firm, highly resistant tissue. 

 Its scanty connective tissue cells are of the lamellar variety and 

 are usually arranged in rows which occupy the interstices between 

 the parallel fibre bundles. 



Dense white fibrous tissue occurs in tendons ; in these the con- 

 nective tissue cells often have a peculiar quadrate shape and are 

 arranged in rows of exceptional regularity. It also forms the liga- 

 ments, the fasciae, the muscular sheaths, and the enveloping cap- 

 sules of many of the viscera. Thus it surrounds the liver, kidney, 

 lymphatic nodes, and other organs; it also forms the valves of the 

 heart, the tendinous rings which surround the cardiac orifices, and 

 the chordae tendinae which are attached to its valves; and, in 



general, it is found wherever 

 great firmness and resistance 

 are required. 



Elastic fibres in this tissue 

 are relatively few in number and 

 are so obscured by the dense 

 bundles of white fibres as to be 

 scarcely demonstrable except by 

 means of the specific stains. 



FIG. 41. COARSE ELASTIC FIBRES FROM 

 THE LIGAMEUTUM NUCH^E OF THE OX ; 

 ISOLATED BY TEASING. 



Partly diagrammatic, x about 250. 



FIG. 42. TRANSECTION OF A FASCICULUS 

 OF THE LIGAMENTUM NUCH, OF THE 

 OX, SHOWING THE VERY LARGE ELASTIC 



FIBRES EMBEDDED IN A VERY DELI- 

 CATE NETWORK OF WHITE FIBRES. 



Picro-fuchsin. x 550. 



Elastic Tissue. In this form of tissue the elastic fibres are 

 developed at the expense of the white fibres. The ground sub- 



