most of them being much larger than the fibre-cells, and some
as large as the largest adipose cells. They can very rarely
be seen without the aid of the most favorable light, but when,
under such circumstances, the observer has once detected one
of them, and become familiar with the degree of its transparency, they may be recognized in great numbers. They
have a distinct nucleus attached to the internal surface of their
wall, containing one or two nucleoli. The nucleus always
attracts attention first; the cell surrounding it is either quite
transparent, and void of granules, or has granulous contents,
and this granulous deposit is first formed in the neighbourhood
of the nucleus, the remaining portion of the contents being
still transparent. (See the figure.) Gradually, the entire contents appear to become granulous. These cells are distinguished
from the fibre-cells of areolar tissue by the circumstance of
their becoming much larger than the latter, and their not
being elongated into fibres, and from the adipose cells, in that
they do not contain fat. I have found them in areolar tissue
taken from the bottom of the orbit, and from the neck of a
feetal pig, but do not know whether they occur in the areolar
tissue of all parts of the body; nor can I determine their signification. They might be regarded as cellular spaces which
had been produced by the distension of the areolar tissue with air. In such case, they must communicate with one another
in the course of their further development. But this appears
to me to be somewhat improbable ; and those spaces may be
merely artificial productions. I should rather regard the cells in
question as a modification of the adipose cells. For since, according to Gurlt, the ordinary adipose cells in the adult may
contain mere watery fluid, one may also conceive the cells
destined to the formation of fat becoming completely developed,
without that formation actually taking place within them.
There are, indeed, adipose cells which contain fat even in the
earliest stage of their development, but that is no reason
why the formation should not take place at a much later period
in other cells. The granulous deposit in many of them might
be regarded as the transitional step to the formation of fat.
The cellular tissue of the foetus differs in its chemical con-
stitution from that of the adult, since we cannot obtain any
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AREOLAR TISSUE.
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