282 THE SOLIDS. 



The true cartilages are distinguished from the fibro-car- 

 tilages by their bluish and transparent aspect. 



Structure of True Cartilages. 



True cartilages consist, as already mentioned, of hyaline 

 matrix, cavities, and cells ; each of these constituents will be 

 described in succession. 



Hyaline Matrix. The intercellular substance, or hyaline 

 matrix, although it does not usually present any distinct 

 traces of organization, yet contains, scattered through it, 

 numerous granules of different sizes, and many of which are 

 to be regarded as the cytoblasts from which new cells are 

 continually being developed. 



The amount of this intercellular substance varies in" dif- 

 ferent cartilages, and is greater in fully developed than in 

 very young cartilage. 



Cavities. The cavities of true cartilages vary both in 

 size and form ; in shape they are irregular, although for the 

 most part elongated. 



They are, in most cases, to be regarded as simple excava- 

 tions or fossa? in the hyaline matrix ; in others, however, it 

 would appear from the observations of Henle *, Bruns f , and 

 Schwann J, that they are lined by a distinct membrane, and 

 which is indicated by a double contour, by the difficulty 

 experienced in setting free the contained cells, and by the 

 fact, that by boiling, the intercellular substance is dissolved, 

 while the cavities remain as distinct corpuscles. 



Such cavities would stand in the relation of parent cells to 

 those which they include. 



Cells. The cells of cartilages are very different from those 

 occurring elsewhere in the animal organization ; they are 

 distinct in their form and in the character of their contents. 



Cartilage cells, like the cavities in which they are enclosed, 

 are irregular in size and shape ; they are, however, generally 



* Anat. Gen., vol. vii. p. 364. f A % Anat., p. 215. 



Mikrosk Untersuch. 



