Connective Substances. By T. E. Satterthwaite. 199 
small size lying upon the larger parts of tlie meshes. It is held 
hy Klein and other histologists that these are branching corpuscles, 
but it is by no means clear that this is always the case. In some 
instances this appearance is well seen in those portions of the 
glands that are regarded as the lymph passages, where the adenoid 
tissue forms the framework of the part. These fibres are extremely 
delicate, like fine silken cords, forming meshes which enclose vast 
numbers of lymphoid corpuscles, and appear to exhibit corpuscular 
bodies at the nodal points of the meshes. These delicate fibres, 
however, are often replaced by heavy cords (c), such as are seen in 
the drawing ; and after continual inflammations the diameter of the 
cords may be found to be greater than that of the spaces. In these 
latter cases, it is often difficult to find any corpuscular elements that 
may not be separated from the fibres ; and, indeed, large areas of 
these fibrous networks may, by diligent brushing with a camel's- 
hair brush, be swept clean of corpuscles. But neither this rough 
method, nor agitation in a test-tube, will always succeed in 
separating the corpuscles from the fibres, even after an immersion 
in common salt solution for many weeks. I do not therefore feel 
quite satisfied in thinking that adenoid tissue does not consist of 
branched corpuscles; but it is quite clear that the so-called net- 
works of cells are at times replaced by networks made up of 
branching bundles of fibres, and in which the corpuscles play a 
minor part. Whether in such cases the bundles are made by the 
splitting up of the corpuscles, or, on the other hand, they are 
formed about the corpuscles, I do not feel prepared to decide. In 
my individual opinion, I must incline to the latter view as more in 
accordance with the appearances that are seen in the growth of 
reticular tissue, as I have had an opportunity of studying it in the 
umbilical cord. Where the fibrous networks have attained some 
thickness, there it seems that we find the ordinary flattened con- 
nective-tissue plates lying on the bundles, and surrounded by a 
delicate envelope in some cases. 
It is not inconsistent with this theory that some, at least, of 
these lymphoid corpuscles may originate from the flattened cor- 
puscles of the adenoid tissue, for it appears sometimes as if this 
production of the corpuscles could really be seen. — Bead before the 
Biological Section of the New York Academy of Sciences, May 1 
1876. 
( To be continued.') 
