CARTILAGE. 6 1 



The cell-spaces or cavities in hyaline cartilage do 

 not by the ordinary modes of preparation appear to 

 be connected by lymph-channels, as are the cell- 

 spaces in other varieties of connective tissue, yet the 

 rapid passage of fluids through the tissue under cer- 

 tain circumstances, together with some recent micro- 

 scopical observations, renders it extremely probable 

 that such communications do exist, though we are 

 not at present able to demonstrate them with cer- 

 tainty. Although by the ordinary modes of prepara- 

 tion the basement substance of hyaline cartilage 

 appears quite homogeneous, certain changes which 

 it undergoes under pathological conditions, or by the 

 use of certain macerating or digesting fluids, lead us 

 to believe that it really contains a groundwork of 

 delicate fibrillae. 



The basement substance of hyaline cartilage dif- 

 fers chemically from the basement substance of other 

 members of the connective-tissue group, yet recent 

 researches have thrown serious doubt upon the view 

 formerly held, i. e., that cartilage gave, on boiling, a 

 peculiar and characteristic substance called ckondrin, 

 it having been shown that the so-called chondrin is 

 not a pure chemical substance, but a mixture of 

 gelatin, mucin, and certain salts. 



Hyaline cartilage is found, in the adult, covering 

 the ends of the bones in the joints ; and most of the 

 laryngeal and the tracheal, bronchial, costal, and nasal 

 cartilages are of this variety. 



