Volume 2

Manual of human histology / By A. Kölliker, professor of anatomy and physiology in Wurzberg ; translated and edited by George Busk, F.R.S., and Thomas Huxley, F.R.S.

  • Kölliker, Albert, 1817-1905.
Date:
1853-54
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Manual of human histology / By A. Kölliker, professor of anatomy and physiology in Wurzberg ; translated and edited by George Busk, F.R.S., and Thomas Huxley, F.R.S. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    § 141. The soft parts of the teeth are : the periosteum of the alveolus, the dental pulp, and the gum. The periosteum of the alveolus is very intimately connected with the fangs of the tooth, and has the same structure as any other periosteum, except that it is softer, contains no elastic element and possesses an abundant nervous network, containing many thick fibres. The dental pulp—the remains of the foetal dental papilla— arises from the periosteum at the bottom of the alveolus, enters the fangs, and, as a continuous, soft, reddish, very vascular and nervous substance, fills their canals and the pulp cavity in such a manner as to be everywhere in close adherence to the inner surface of the dentine. The pulp consists of an indistinctly fibrous connective tissue, totally destitute of the elastic element, but containing many dispersed, round and elongated nuclei; and except that it occasionally contains narrow bundles, almost like imperfect fcetal connective tissue. A fluid may be expressed from it which, like mucus, is coagulated by acetic acid and is not dissolved in an excess ; and, similarly, the entire pulp is ren- dered whitish by acetic acid, never becoming transparent like perfect connective tissue. This substance constitutes the prin- cipal mass of the pulp, so far as the vessels and nerves extend; but upon its surface we find, immediately beneath a dehcate structureless membrane, a layer of O02—0*04' thick, composed of many series of cells, 0 012' long, 0-002—0-003' broad, cylindrical or pointed at one end, with long narrow nucleolated nuclei of 0-005', arranged perpendicularly to the surface of the pulp like a cylinder epithelium. More internally these regular series are no longer recognisable, but the cells, without losing their close radial arrangement, are more intermixed, and pass, finally, by shorter and rounder cells, without any sharp lines of demarcation, into the vascular tissue of the pulp. These cells correspond with the formative cells of the dentine, to be described presently, and they afford the materials for the deposits of dentine upon the walls of the pulp cavity, which take place even in the adult. The vessels of the pulp are excessively numerous, whence its red colour. 3—10 small arteries enter each pulp of a simple tooth, and ultimately form, as well in its interior as upon its