AREOLAR TISSUE. 
127 
tissue has been fully described by my late brother, in 
the 1st vol, of the “Transactions of the Microscopical 
Society.” 
AREOLAR TISSUE. 
We now pass on to a mixture of the white and 
yellow fibres forming a tissue most extensively diffused 
through the animal economy under the various names 
of cellular, fibro-cellular, and areolar tissue ; the latter 
being the term now usually employed. The older 
anatomists imagined, that by the crossing and inter- 
texture of the fibres, a series of more or less round or 
oval cells were formed ; these spaces, however, have no 
distinct cell-walls, but are merely areolse or meshes, the 
continuity of which is proved in cases of anasarca and 
emphysema, and by the inflation of this tissue with air 
by means of a blow-pipe. 
The principal use of areolar tissue is that of connect- 
ing other tissues, and at the same time allowing greater 
or less freedom of motion between them. It forms, 
with few exceptions, the principal means of support to 
blood-vessels and nerves, accompanying both to their 
minutest subdivisions. It is largely developed in certain 
situations, as for instance, under the skin, where it has 
received the name of subcutaneous areolar tissue ; under 
mucous and serous membranes where it is sometimes 
very abundant, and is then styled submucous or sub- 
