MINUTE ANATOMY OF THE ALIMENTARY CANAL. 213 



The Minute Anatomy of the Alimentary Canal. By 

 Herbert Watney, M.A., M.D. (With Plate XV.) 



The following is an abstract of a paper published in the 

 * Philosophical Transactions,' vol. 166, part 2. The research 

 was commenced and carried on under the direction of Dr. 

 Klein for the first fifteen months; during the last year it was 

 continued independently. The paper was read in January, 

 1876. It is illustrated by forty-three drawings, most of them 

 having been made by means of the camera lucida. 



The paper is divided into three chapters, the first of which 

 treats of the minute anatomy of the mucous membrane of the 

 intestine and the method of fat absorption ; the second of the 

 minute anatomy of the mucous membrane of the pyloric end 

 of the stomach ; and the third of the minute anatomy of the 

 mucous membrane at the point of transition between the 

 stomach and the intestine. 



The first chapter begins with a statement put forth as a 

 proposition, which the author seeks to demonstrate in the 

 rest of the chapter. The statement is that — 



The mucous membrane of the mtestine is pervaded every- 

 where by a reticulum similar to and continuous with that 

 found in the follicles of Peyer^s patches. This reticulum 

 is situated among all the other elements which are contained 

 in its meshes. This is true of the epithelial cells, the 

 muscle-fibres, the cells of the parenchyma and of the endo- 

 thelial plates of the membrana propria, of the blood-vessels 

 and lymphatics. It is by this reticulum that the fat is 

 absorbed, and by this reticulum that the fat finds its xoay 

 into the lymphatic vessels, and probably also into the blood- 

 vessels. 



After this follows a long history of the previous researches 

 on the subject. It is shown that at first the lacteals were 

 supposed to open on the surface ; then, when the epithelium 

 was discovered, it was imagined that there were minute pores 

 in the borders of the epithelial cells through which fat could 

 pass. The view that was held by some observers of the fat 

 pressing in everywhere among the tissue is also mentioned, 

 as are the later and important researches of Basch, Erdmann, 

 and Zawarykiu, on absorption, and the anatomical facts dis- 

 covered respectively by His, Teichman, Recklinghausen, and 

 Debove. 



After the history a short account is given of the different 



VOL. XVII. NEW SER. P 



