1. Varieties In Regard To Quantity

The cellular tissue contained in the human body is subject to variations in quantity which come within the sphere of Pathology.

In some bodies this tissue is over-abundant, in others its quantity is smaller than usual; neither condition, however, constitutes more than an individual peculiarity.

But it may accumulate in excessive quantity in particular parts of the body, entering into the composition of various morbid growths and tumors, or forming a uniting medium between organs which in their natural state are separate from one another. As an areolar callus it may supply losses of substance which are otherwise irreparable, filling up cavities in the injured tissues; or it may become accumulated in excess, i. e. hypertrophied, at parts which have been subjected to continued irritation, as, for instance, in the neighborhood of inflamed spots. And, lastly, it may occupy the place of parts which, in consequence of some fault in their original formation, are wanting; such as the bulb, the rectum, or the thoracic organs in cases of acephalus; the muscles, and even the bones, of incompletely developed limbs, etc.

Nevertheless, the presence of a mass of cellular tissue in the spot once occupied by some previously existing organ, cannot always be regarded as an exuberant growth of that tissue; for that which remains behind after organs have disappeared, whether from primary or secondary atrophy, or in the ordinary course of natural decay (Involution), is nothing more than the tissue which once formed the connecting medium in their anatomical composition, and which, therefore, then occupied the same place. This is the case with the thymus gland, and the mammae, with absorbent glands, with the ovaries, etc.

Exhaustive diseases produce general diminution of the quantity of cellular tissue; and the same result ensues in particular portions of it, as well as in other organs, from continued pressure and from paralysis, and after suppuration and sloughing.

2. Anomalies In Regard To Texture

1. Hypercemia, Apoplexy Of Cellular Tissue

Under suitable circumstances, particular portions of the entire system of cellular tissue are subjected to transient, or to permanent, congestions of an active, a passive, or a mechanical nature. These congestions, especially the two last-mentioned kinds, sometimes occasion spontaneous hemorrhages into the cellular tissue (apoplexia textus cellulosi); the effusions of blood are generally small and circumscribed, but sometimes they are large and more extended. The greater and more important extravasations occur in the lower extremities, in the sexual organ of the female, and in the abdomen. One of the most interesting cases of the kind was communicated to me by Professor Fischer of Prague: the blood was effused into the orbit, and it had coagulated in large, firm, tuberous masses, which forced the eye forwards out of the orbit.