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64 EMBRYOLOGY OF THE DEM'AL TISSUES.

workers, for Tomes mentions the fact that Prof. Howes and Mr. Poulton
have demonstrated this vascular network in the stratum intermedium
of the enamel org;an of tlie rat.
Dr. J. Leon Williams, in an article on " The Formation and Struc-
ture of Dental Enamel," ' demonstrates with his photo-microin^rajjhs the
existence of this vascular network in the stratum intermedium of the
rat which had been previously seen by these English observers, but it
is to be remembered that this vascular network forms after the outer

Fig. 4-5.

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\

Section of jaw, embryo of pig, showing development of dentin germ and enamel organ of per-
manent tooth : 1, epithcliuui ; 2, euaiuel organ ; 3, dentin germ ; 4, budtiiug of enamel organ
of permanent tooth ; 5, developing jaw.
portions of the enamel organ have disappeared, and only when the con-
nective tissue of the jaw is in contact with the cells of the stratum
intermedium.
The third form of cells fills up the central portion ; they appear
star-shaped, and have been called the stellate reticulum of the enamel
organ. Between the cells is to be found a fluid rich in albumin ; the
consistence of this is somewhat like a jelly ; indeed, enamel organs
have been called enamel jelly or enamel pulps. Tomes states that the
function and destination of the stellate reticulum is not very clear.
Enamel can be very well formed without it, as is seen among reptiles
' Dental Cosmos, February, 1896.