MOUTH. 



[ 439 ] 



MUCEDINES. 



The ducts of the lobules have a coat of form of exudation corpuscles, and this view 



Fig. 497. 



C. 



Fig. 499. 



—c 



Human racemose mucous gland from the floor of the 

 cavity of the mouth, a, areolar coat ; b, excretory duct ; 

 c, glandular ceeca ; d, lobular ducts. 



Magnified 50 diameters. 



areolar tissue, with networks of fine elastic 



Fig. 498. 



Diagram of two lobular ducts of a mucous gland. «, common duct ; b, 

 lobular branch ; c, glandular vesicles in situ ; d, the same separated, and 

 the ducts unfolded. 



Magnified 100 diameters. 



fibres, and a single la)'er of cylindi'ical, epi- 

 thelial cells. 



The mucous liquid of the mouth contains, 

 in addition to detached epithehal cells, 

 very transparent corpuscles, about 1-2000 

 to 1-1500" in diameter, consisting of a deli' 

 cate cell-wall, a nucleus, with a number of 

 minute moving molecules. We have figured 

 these among the Test-Objects (PI. 1. 

 fig. 5). They are called mucous or salivary 

 corpuscles. Kolliker regards them as a 



Two glandular vesicles of a human racemose mucous 

 gland, a, basement membrane ; b, epithelium, side 

 view ; c, the same in surface view. 



Magnified 300 diameters. 



is probably correct, for they may occur in the 

 secretion of any mucous surface, and have no 

 special connexion with the salivary glands : 

 we have found them in myriads in the urine. 

 The secretion of the mouth generally con- 

 tains also very slender filaments of a fungus 

 (Leptothrix), with species of Monas, E. 

 and of Vibrio. 



BiBL. Kolliker, Mikr. Anat. ii. 

 MUCEDINES.— A family of Hyphomy- 

 cetous Fungi, forming moulds and mildews 

 upon living or decaying animal or vegetable 

 substances, and contributing to their de- 

 composition, characterized by a flocculent 

 mycelium bearing erect, continuous or 

 septate, simple or branched, tubular, 

 pellucid filaments, terminating 

 in single spores or strings of 

 spores, which soon separate 

 from each other, and lie among 

 the filaments of the mycelium. 

 This tribe includes a number 

 of the most interesting of the 

 microscopic fungi, noted for 

 their destructive influence upon 

 organic bodies which they at- 

 tack. The species of Botrytis, 

 Oidium, &c. spread with won- 

 derful rapidity as mildews over 

 the herbaceous parts of vege- 

 tables and moist vegetable sub- 

 stances generally; in the former 

 situations their spores enter the 

 stomata, their mycelia ramifying among the 

 subjacent cells, and carrying decomposition 

 and decay into all the soft structures. They 

 are most abundantly developed in a close, 

 damp atmosphere. Them3celiaof other kinds, 

 as of Penicillium, growing in liquids con- 

 taining organic matter, or upon decaying 

 vegetable substances, produce remarkable 

 chemical decompositions, causing a fermen- 

 tation of the medium in which they exist. 

 See Penicillium and Fermentation. 



