ARTICULAR CARTILAGE. 
155 
rich net-work may in some cases be observed upon a 
large portion of the articular surface. As far as I have 
been able to learn from examinations of diseased arti- 
cular cartilages, especially those affected with ulceration, 
I conclude that the change first takes place in the car- 
tilage cells, as is made evident by their becoming rounder 
and much larger in size, and by their contents assuming 
a different character, the nuclei disappearing, and glo- 
bules of oil taking their place. In some cases these 
oil-globules are of very minute size, and the cells then 
appear granular; as the disease goes on, the cell- walls 
are absorbed, a series of cavities are formed, all the 
hyaline substance in the neighbourhood becomes more 
or less fibrous, and ultimately blood-vessels are developed 
in the fibrous tissue. The diseases of cartilage have 
been studied by very many able observers, especially 
Sir Benjamin Brodie, the late Mr. Key, Mr. Liston, and 
more recently by Dr. Redfern, of Aberdeen, whose 
papers will be found in the “ Monthly Journal of 
Medical Science,” for 1849. 
The nutriment of articular cartilage is derived from 
two sources, namely, the articular vessels and those of 
the synovial membrane, more especially the latter ; but 
neither set ever enters its substance, the one set ending 
in loops immediately without the parts subjected to 
friction in the movement of the joint, the other set con- 
fined to the cancelli of the shaft of the bone, and 
separated from the cartilage by the non-vascular lamella. 
The vessels of the synovial membrane of foetal articular 
