44G GOBLET CELLS. [BOOK n. 



columnar cell of a villus is obviously a peculiar and presumably an 

 important structure. 



261. Mixed in varying proportion with the columnar cells 

 possessing this characteristic hyaline border, are cells of another 

 kind, the goblet cells. These are essentially mucous cells; in all their 

 important characters they resemble the mucous cells previously 

 described ( 235), but receive their special name because in shape 

 they usually resemble a goblet or flask. In a hardened and prepared 

 specimen of a villus numerous goblet cells may be seen scattered 

 among and surrounded by columnar cells. Each goblet cell has a 

 base, often irregular and sometimes branched, lying on or near the 

 basement membrane, and a top which reaches the surface of the 

 villus between the refractive borders of the neighbouring columnar 

 cells. Near the base is placed a nucleus, generally disc-shaped, owing 

 to the action of the reagent, surrounded by a small quantity of 

 staining protoplasmic cell-substance. Above this the cell consists 

 of a mass of transparent mucin, lying in the meshes of a delicate 

 reticulum, and surrounded by a thin layer or envelope which is 

 prolonged upwards from the cell-substance below, and which on the 

 top or free surface of the cell usually bears a distinct round orifice 

 or mouth. The upper part of the cell is consequently a sort of cup 

 filled with mucin (and reticulum) and opening into the interior of 

 the intestine by .a somewhat narrow mouth, through which the 

 mucin in due time escapes. 



In a villus examined quite fresh in normal saline solution some 

 of these goblet cells may be observed in a condition which has 

 been described, 235, as the normal condition of a mucous cell. 

 The cell is then cylindrical or oval rather than distinctly flask- 

 shaped, and the upper part of the cell consists of cell-substance 

 studded with granules and spherules, the transparent mucin being 

 absent and the mouth not visible. But in perfectly fresh villi, 

 studied under even the most favourable conditions, many if not most 

 of the goblet cells will be seen to have become goblet shaped, to 

 have already undergone the transformation into transparent mucin 

 and reticulum, and to have acquired a mouth. In such cases the 

 clear transparent body of a goblet cell stands out in strong contrast 

 with the more dim granular bodies of the columnar cells which 

 surround it, both when they are seen on their side and when they 

 are looked at from above. In the latter case when the microscope 

 is focussed for a point a little below the free surface of the villus, 

 the goblet cells look like round clear droplets scattered in the dim 

 ground formed by the columnar cells. A similar contrast is afforded 

 by prepared specimens stained with carmine and certain other 

 dyes, which leave the transparent mucin unstained. Under certain 

 methods or conditions of hardening however and with certain dyes, 

 as with haematoxylin, the mucin may stain as deeply or even more 

 deeply than its surroundings. 



Obviously these goblet cells are simply mucous cells somewhat 



