Volume 1

Studies in pathological anatomy / by Francis Delafield.

  • Delafield, Francis, 1841-1915
Date:
1882-1891
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Studies in pathological anatomy / by Francis Delafield. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    the cells as shown by nitrate of silver, in the lower part the same cells as they appear when isolated. The branched cells are found everywhere imbedded in the basement substance, or rather perhaps between the fibres of which the basement substance is composed. For the knowledge of the importance of these cells we are indebted to Virchow. He described them as fusiform or stellate cells with anastomosing processes, and gave them the name of connective-tissue corpuscles — a name which they have since retained. While he recognized their general shape and arrangement, he failed, owing to imperfect modes of preparation, to observe their full size and contours. A few years ago Ranvier and Boll studied these cells more thoroughly, especially in tendons, and described them as flat cells. It seemed at first as if the older idea of connective-tissue corpuscles must be given up. Still further study, however, has shown that they are not flat cells, but are large irregular masses of protoplasm, with branching and anastomo- sing processes given off in all directions. The nuclei of these cells are large, ovoid bodies, easily stained and easily seen, preserving their shape under most circumstances. One or more such nuclei are found in each cell. The cell-bodies, on the contrary, are composed of a very delicate substance, not easily stained and not easily seen. This substance coagulates into various shapes after death. As we look at the cell-bodies with the microscope, our idea of their shapes will vary with the completeness with which they are demonstrated. They will look like oval nuclei, or like narrow fusiform cells, or like flat, nucleated cells, or like large, irregular masses of protoplasm with processes running in every direction. The more com- plete the demonstration, so much the larger do the cell-bodies appear, and so much the more numerous are their anastomosing processes. They form a continuous system of cells imbedded in the basement sub- stance. Their processes anastomose not merely in the same plane, but in every direction from the nucleus. Their branching shape resembles so closely that of the small lymph-spaces that the two have been supposed to be identical. But both cells and lymph-spaces can be demonstrated in the same specimen as distinct objects. Plate II. shows the branching