CONNECTIVE TISSUES, in anatomy. Very widely distributed throughout the tissues and organs of the animal body, there occur tissues characterized by the presence of a high proportion of intercellular substance. This intercellular substance may be homogeneous in structure, or, as is more commonly the case, it may consist, in whole or in part, of a number of fibrous elements. All these tissues are grouped together under the name Connective Tissues. They comprise the following types:- areolar tissue, adipose tissue, reticular or lymphoid tissue, white fibrous tissue, elastic tissue, cartilage and bone. They are all developed from the same layer of embryonic cells and all perform a somewhat similar function, viz, to connect and support the other tissues and organs. According to the nature of their work the ground substance varies in its texture, being fibrous in some, calcareous and rigid in others. As forming the most typical of these tissues, we will first consider the structure of areolar connective tissues.
