General Anatomy, Applied to Physiology and Medicine, Vol. 1 (of 3)Bichat, Xavier
Science
General Anatomy, Applied to Physiology and Medicine, Vol. 1 (of 3)
Bichat, Xavier
Human anatomy; Human physiology
Much has been written upon the nature of this texture; Bordeu has
given some vague ideas upon it, but no experiments. Fontana has made
researches which lead but to few results, upon its intimate structure
and upon the tortuous cylinders of which, according to him, it is
an assemblage. Let us throw aside all hypotheses that examination
does not support; let us follow nature in the phenomena of structure
that she shows us, and not in those she wishes to conceal. In thus
considering the cellular texture, we see that it is very different from
a species of glue, with which some have wished to compare it. It is
an assemblage of many whitish filaments, crossing very often certain
kinds of delicate layers, which form cells with these filaments. To see
this organization well, a piece of the cellular portion of the scrotum
should be taken, which has no fat, and whose texture is consequently
not concealed by this fluid; this portion being stretched into a
kind of membrane, is seen very distinctly. Then there may be plainly
distinguished, 1st. a transparent net-work, arranged in layers, which
makes the foundation, if we may so say, and the tenuity of which is
such, that it has been aptly compared by a physiologist, to the soap
bubbles that are thrown into the air with a pipe. It is impossible
to distinguish, by the naked eye, any fibre in the texture of these
layers; every thing is there uniform. 2d. They are very evidently
crossed by numerous filaments, which running in all directions, are
interwoven in every way, all of which touch, when the cellular texture
is pressed together, but when stretched out, there can be seen between
them the layers of which I have just spoken. The more it is extended,
the larger consequently the membrane becomes, the interstices between
the filaments are greater, and the intermediate layers are also more
apparent.
What is the nature of these filaments? I presume that some are
absorbents, others exhalants, and that many are formed in the places
where the layers unite together for the formation of the cells. As the
thickness arising from this union is greater, they are distinguished
by more evident lines upon the cellular texture stretched into a
membrane. What induces me to believe this, is, that when, instead of
examining the cellular texture upon a portion taken from the scrotum,
and stretched as I have described, it is observed in an artificial
emphysema, as in that of the slaughter-houses for example, then there
is seen upon the covering of each cell, only the non-filamentous layers
of which I have spoken, without any of those filaments that were seen
crossing it in the other method.
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