328 THE SOLIDS. 



INELASTIC OR WHITE CELLULAR OR FIBROUS TISSUE. 

 Tendons, Ligaments, Membranes, *<?. 



The inelastic fibrous tissue *is very generally distributed 

 throughout the body : it constitutes the principal portion of 

 tendons, ligaments, and fasciae; of the fibrous membranes, 

 the dura mater, pericardium, periosteum, perichondrium, 

 tunica albuginea of the testicle, and sclerotic coat of the eye ; 

 also of the serous, synovial and mucous membranes, as well 

 as of the skin, and it forms likewise the principal constituent 

 of the loose cellular tissue which is so abundantly developed 

 throughout every tissue and organ of the body, but which is 

 invariably present in large quantities wherever motion is ne- 

 cessary, as in the axilla, between the fasciculi of muscles, 

 and in the course of the vessels. 



When endowed with a distinct form, as in the case of the 

 tendons, it may be called morphous inelastic cellular tissue, 

 and when it has no circumscribed shape, the term amorphous 

 may be applied to it : when constituting membrane, it exists 

 in the state of condensed fibrous tissue ; and when it merely 

 binds organs together, or allows of the motion of parts, it 

 may be called loose or reticular cellular tissue. 



There is, however, a form of the inelastic fibrous tissue 

 which requires not merely a separate name, but a distinct 

 notice. This form is met with in the great omentum, and 

 consists in the fact of spaces of irregular size and form being 

 left between the fibres, and hence it may be termed areolar 

 cellular tissue. The best examples of it are met with in 

 the omenta of children and lean persons, which contain but 

 little fat. (See Plate XL. fig. 4.) 



The inelastic cellular tissue is made up of innumerable 

 unbranched threads or fibres of equal calibre, of great te- 

 nuity, which appear white to the unassisted sight, but of a 

 yellow colour when viewed under the microscope, and which 

 have a great disposition to assume a waved or zigzag ar- 

 rangement, the folds formed being comparable to those in 



