An experimental inquiry into the nutrition of animal tissues / by William Marcet.

  • Marcet, W. (William), 1828-1900.
Date:
1874
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An experimental inquiry into the nutrition of animal tissues / by William Marcet. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    united to tliis same material. The existence of a colloid constituent of hone very much resembling gelatine is easily demonstrated by the well-known experiment of immersing a bone in dilute hydrochloric acid, when the earthy matters are removed, water taking their place and entering into a colloid union with the gelatinous matrix, the union being apparently similar to that which had existed before between the earthy matters and the colloid material. The con- nexion between water and gelatine in a jelly obviously takes place between two colloid bodies, although water may under certain circumstances, as under the influence of cold, assume the crystalloid condition; and moreover we find that, in the formation of bone, phosphate and carbonate of lime and magnesia exist in an amorphous or non- crystalline state : I therefore consider these earthy sub- stances as existing in a colloid condition in osseous tissue. Animal tissues, although in some respects resembling a jelly, vary, of course, essentially from this colloid material because of their having a definite structure. Yirchow considers from observations with the microscope that there exists in muscular and other tissues a complex system of minute channels, the object of which is apparently to allow of the transmission of the nutritive material to the different parts of the tissues. Indeed it is very difficult, not to say impossible, to account for the distribution of the colloid material destined to nourish tissues after it has left the blood, unless the presence of channels or other inter- cellular passages be admitted. That such a nutritive material really exists must be acknowledged, as (Quain’s ‘ Elements of Anatomy,’ vol. ii.) ‘ the capillaries destined for the proper tissue of the muscle form among the fibres a fine network with narrow oblong meshes, which are stretched out in the direction of the fibres none of the capillary vessels enter the sarcolemma or proper sheath of the fibre.’ There must conseqiiently- be a material in- termediate between blood and tissue, reaching every par- ticle of the tissue to be nourished ; and with this object in view, there must exist proper means for the thorough