102 THE HUMAN BODY 



might indeed be expected from the passive and merely 

 mechanical role which this tissue plays. 



Hyaline cartilage is the type, or most characteristically 

 developed form, of a tissue found with modifications else- 

 where in the Body. One of its other modifications is the 

 so-called cellular cartilage, which consists of the cells with 

 hardly any matrix, only just enough to form a thin capsule 

 around each. This form is that with which all the car- 

 tilages commence, the hyaline variety heing built up by the 

 increase of the cell capsules and their fusion to form the 

 matrix. It persists throughout life in the thin cartilaginous 

 plate of a mouse's external ear. Other varieties of cartilage 

 are really mixtures of true cartilage and connective tissues,. 

 and will be considered after the latter. 



The Connective Tissues. These complete the. skeleton, 

 marked out in its coarser features by the bones and car- 

 tilages, and constitute the final group of the supporting 

 tissues. They occur in all forms from Inroad membranes 

 and stout cords to the finest threads, forming networks 

 around the other ultimate histological elements of various 

 organs. In addition to subsidiary forms, three main varie- 

 ties of this tissue are readily distinguishable, viz., areolar, 

 white fibrous, and yellow elastic. Each consists of fibres 

 and cells, the fibres being of two kinds, mixed in nearly 

 equal proportions in the areolar variety, while one kind 

 predominates in one and another in the second of the re- 

 maining chief forms. 



Areolar Connective Tissue. This exists abundantly be- 

 neath the skin, where it forms a loose flocculent layer, 

 somewhat like raw cotton in appearance but not so white. 

 It is on account of its loose texture that the skin can every- 

 where be moved, more or less, to and fro over the subja- 

 cent parts to which it is united by this tissue. Areolar 

 tissue consists of innumerable bands and cords interlacing 

 in all directions, andean be greatly distended by blowing air 

 in at any point, from whence it travels widely through the 

 intercommunicating meshes. In dropsy of the legs or feet 

 the cavities of this tissue are distended with lymph. From 

 beneath the skin the areolar tissue extends all through the 



