O '\\1VTI\T TISSUE 



57 



extremely fine long wavy fibres, or fibrillee, as they are called. 

 The fibrilhc run parallel in the bundles and never branch. 

 Bundles of such 



ft 











Fie. 23. Connective tissue fibres. 



small bundles of white fibrous tissue ; /', larger bundles ; 

 . , single clastic fibres. 



fibrilhe do not 

 stretch, are not 

 elastic. If very 

 dilute acid is 

 allowed to act on 

 the fibrillie they 

 swell up and be- 

 come almost trans- 

 parent. Scattered 

 among these 

 bundles of fine 

 fibrillas are some 

 branching fibres, 

 generally much 

 thicker, which 

 form a loose net- 

 work ; these are 

 elastic, and arc 

 called elastic 

 fibres. They are yellowish in colour. 



Lying among the bundles of fibres arc a number of cells, 

 called connective tissue corpuscles. Each contains a 



nucleus. Many of them are 

 flattened and much branched, 

 and lie on the surface of the 



^~\*J ^Jjjf xJ*to *<* bundles of fibrillo?. Others 

 I * JJB ^^9^^\ ty' in % m t ^ e meshes formed by 

 J^^, '/ l ^<' ty l ' lc fibres are more like the 



J \ ^\L ^^ colourless corpuscles of the 



blood. The three elements of 

 connective tissue then are, 

 fine fibrillae, elastic fibres, 

 and connective tissue cor- 

 puscles. 



The connective tissue between the muscles is much looser 

 in texture than that immediately under the skin, but con- 

 sists of the same three elements. Tendons and ligaments, 



V* 



FIG. 24. Connective tissue corpuscles 

 c, cell ; /, IIP " cvs ; H, nucleus. 



