Abstract
THIS review is not intended to be exhaustive since it is aimed not at the specialist in this field but rather toward the physicians and surgeons whose work brings them into close contact with the problems of the structure and function of the connective tissues and their maintenance and repair. These tissues are the most ubiquitous of all the animal tissues, and through them must pass the nutritive substances and metabolic products of the cells. This means that any impairment of the integrity of these tissues must inevitably have widespread implications. Their function as structural elements is, of course, also . . .