CHAPTER II. 

 CONNECTIVE TISSUE. 



OUR knowledge of the animal tissues is not yet 

 extensive and exact enough to enable us to make a 

 satisfactory classification of them, but for conven- 

 ience of study we may regard the body as composed 

 of simple tissues and of organs. As examples of the 

 first we have connective tissue, muscular tissue, 

 nerve tissue, etc.; of the second, the liver, the lungs, 

 the skin, mucous membranes, etc. 



Among the simple tissues there is a large and im- 

 portant group, called connective tissues, the members 

 of which, though presenting many marked differ- 

 ences, yet seem so closely allied, both in structure 

 and life history, as to justify their grouping under 

 the above common name. The members of this 

 group of tissues may be tabulated as follows : * 



* In addition to these varieties, we find in certain parts of the body 

 membranous layers or sheaths sometimes structureless, sometimes 

 having well-marked structural features which differ in many re- 

 spects from the above-mentioned varieties of connective tissue, but 

 which cannot be separately described here. They will be briefly 

 considered as we meet with them in our systematic study of the parts 

 of the body in which they occur. 



3 33 



