THE STRUCTURE OF COLLAGEN AND ELASTIC TISSUES IN UNPROCESSED SKIN.

The article gives a preliminary account of work on the histological appearance of collagen in unprocessed skin, and of our attempts to orientate the collagen bundles before their formation by fixation. For the purpose of studying elastic tissue as opposed to collagen it was found possible to use short alcohol fixation prior to freeze sectioning, for although this caused some flocculation of the collagen it did not interfere significantly with the histological appearance of the elastic tissue. It was soon realized that the site from which skin was taken, and the age of the patient, made a great deal of difference both in the amount of elastic tissue demonstrated and to its colour reaction.