MUCOUS MEMBRANE. 



505 



particularly on the distribution of the blood- 

 vessels, which Ruysch and Lieberkuhn particu- 

 larly illustrated ; and, by the general advance 

 of knowledge, the way was being gradually 

 prepared towards that more philosophical ar- 

 rangement of the tissues of the body, in con- 

 formity with their intimate texture and con- 

 nexions, of which the first example is to be 

 found in the work of Bonn,* already alluded 

 to. lie here traces, with great accuracy, the 

 continuity of the skin and mucous membranes 

 at the different orifices of the body, and he 

 clearly recognises their close structural rela- 

 tion, considering the mucous membranes to be 

 productions of the skin. To our countryman, 

 Dr. Carmichael Smith,f we are indebted for 

 the first application of this arrangement to the 

 purposes of pathological classification, and 

 Pinel soon after followed in the same track.J 



But a new era dates from the remarkable 

 works of Bichat, in which he delineated the 

 structure, vital and other properties, and the 

 relations of the different tissues of the body, 

 and arranged them on a basis, which, though 

 faulty in some of its details, has received no 

 essential modification in its principles since his 

 time, and entitles him to the praise of rare 

 genius and sagacity. He seems to have clearly 

 perceived the true connexion that exists between 

 the skin, mucous membranes, and glands, al- 

 though he failed to carry out his views into the 

 subdivisions of his system, where he was still 

 fettered by the crude notions of his predeces- 

 sors. One of the most remarkable features in 

 his work, bearing on the present subject, is the 

 analogy he draws between the epidermis of the 

 skin and the mucus of mucous membranes, an 

 analogy which he discovered with the eye of 

 the mind, which has been since often rejected, 

 but which can now be shewn to be real by the 

 eye of sense. 



Most writers of eminence since the time of 

 Bichat have adopted the principal part of his 

 views, and some have advanced further towards 

 a full recognition of the homoloe;y of the skin, 

 mucous membranes, and glands, among whom 

 must be mentioned, in particular, J. Miiller, 

 whose classical work on the glands,|| published 

 in 1830, placed him at once in the foremost 

 rank among the anatomists of our own day. 



Subsequently to that date, the improve- 

 ments in the construction of the microscope 

 and the consequent employment of greater 

 magnifying powers, have added an extraor- 

 dinary stimulus to anatomical and physiolo- 

 gical studies, and directed a host of inquirers 

 into an almost unexplored field, from which 

 the harvests already reaped give the most fa- 

 vourable earnest of future and rapid additions 

 to the stores of knowledge. To the Germans 

 is unequivocally due the merit of having far 

 outstripped all other nations in the honourable 



* De continuationibus Membranarum. Roterod. 

 1769. 



t Medical Communications, vol. ii. London, 

 1790. 



t Nosographie Philosophique. Paris, 1798. 



$ Traite des Membranes, 1800. Anatomic Gene- 

 rale, 1801. 



|| De Glandularnm secernentium structura peni- 

 tiori. Lipsiae, 1830. 



path thus opened, and in no collateral path of 

 inquiry which has been pursued to the same 

 extent, has so much new, interesting, and im- 

 portant information of an accurate and satis- 

 factory character, been obtained, as in that 

 which it has been my duty to treat of in the 

 present article. The r.ames of Purkinje, Va- 

 lentin, Henle, and Schwann deserve primary 

 honour in this place, and to these may be added 

 those of Ehrenberg, Treviranus, R. Wagner, 

 Boehm, Wasmann, Gruby, and Gerber. 

 Among the French anatomists, MM. Turpin, 

 Mandl, and Donne have contributed much, 

 and our own countrymen have not been be- 

 hind. Dr. Sharpey, Dr. Sprott Boyd, Dr. Todd, 

 Mr. Nasmyth, Dr. Barry, and Mr. Toynbee, 

 are all distinguished in this field of research.* 



In the present article I have endeavoured to 

 combine with all the authentic information I 

 could obtain from these sources, the results to 

 which I have been brought by a two-years' 

 study of the anatomical characters of the whole 

 mucous system. So rapid, however, are the 

 daily advances of knowledge, that it is possible 

 much has been omitted which is already in 

 some shape before the public, and, on the other 

 hand, that a few years may greatly modify the 

 general views that are here set forth. As the 

 anatomical details, however, have been all sub- 

 stantiated by my own observations, except where 

 otherwise slated, I am enabled to speak with 

 more confidence of their correctness. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. (See also the list of works 

 appended to the articles GLAND and SKIN.) IHar- 

 cellus Malpighius, De viscerum structura. Op. omnia, 

 Lond. 1687. Peyer, De gland, intest. Amstel. 

 1681. J. C. Brunner, De glandulis duodeni, Fran- 

 cofurt. 1715. Lieberkuhn, De fabrica et act. vill. 

 intest. horn. Lugd. Bat. 1744, 4to. Holler, Ele- 

 menta Physiol. lib. xi. Bonn, Specimen Anato- 

 mico-Medicum, &c. extat in Sandifort. Thesauro, 

 vol. ii. Roterodami, 1769, xii. p. 265. Carmichael 

 Smith, In transactions of a Soc. for promoting 

 Med. Know!, vol. ii. Lond. 1790. Soemmering, 

 Bane des Menschlichen kbrpers. Frankfurt a M. 

 1791. R. A. Hedwig, Disquis. Ampull. Lieber- 

 kiilinii physico-microsc. Lipsix, 1797, 4to. Pinel, 

 Nosographie philosophique, Paris, 1798. X. Bi- 

 chat, Traite des Membranes, Paris, 1800; Ana- 

 tomic generale, 1801. K. A. Rudolphi, Progr.de 

 humani corporis partibus simil. 4to. Gryph. 1809. 

 J. F. Meckel, Handbuch der Menschlichen Ana- 

 tomie, Bd. 1. Halle, 1815. C. Mayer, iiber His- 

 tologie u. eine neue Eintheilung der Gewebe den 

 Menschlichen Kbrpers, 8vo. Bonn, 1818. H. 

 Buerger, Examen Microsc. vill. intest. Halae, 1819. 

 F. A. Beclard, Elemens d'anatomie generale, 8vo. 

 Paris, 1825. Billard, De la membrane muqueuse 

 gastro-intestinale, &c. 8vo. Paris, 1825. Craigie, 

 Elements of general and pathological anatomy, 

 Edinb. 1828. Doellinger, De vasis sanguiferis quae 

 villis intestinorum, &c. insunt, Monachii, 1828. 

 E. H. Weber, Hildebrandt's Anatomie, 1830. J. 

 M'uller, De glandul. secernentium structura peni- 

 tiori, Lipsiae, 1830; and, in English, Mr. Solly's 

 abridged translation. G. Breschet, Ann. des Sciences 

 Nat. 1834. Purkinje & Valentin, Commentatio phy- 

 siologica de phenom. motus vibratorii continui, 

 &c. 4to. Wratislav. 1835. Isis, 1838, No. 7. Boehm, 



* To these must now be added Mr. Goodsir, who, 

 in a paper (of which an abstract has been just pub- 

 lished) read at the Royal Society of Edinburgh on 

 the 30th March, supports the view of secretion here 

 given, wilh several new proofs. See Lond. and 

 Edin. Monthly Journal of Med. Science, May, 1842. 



