Essays on the Microscope / Containing a Practical Description of the Most Improved Microscopes, a General History of Insects, etc., etc.

by George Adams

OF THE CELLULAR TISSUE.

We now proceed to give some account of the substance which fills up the vacant spaces that are left between the longitudinal fibres. It is called by Grew the parenchyma or pulp, by Malpighi, the vesicular tissue or web; both of them consider it as formed of small bladders or reticles, that are in contact with each other, lying in an horizontal position, or at right angles to the longitudinal fibres: they do not suppose them to be all of the same size, or even of the same figure: Grew compares it to the froth of beer or eggs. The flesh of fruits consists for the most part of this substance, very much filled with juice, though with considerable difference in its organization. Be this as it may, the nature of this substance, its form and structure, are at present but very little known. It is floccose, and varies in colour in different species.