l54! DR. E. KLEIN. 



tlieir nucleus is not compressed and situated so close to the 

 membrane propria, being a more or less well-shaped spherical 

 body situated in the outer part of the cell near the membrane 

 propria. 



[b) In man. — The mucous glands of man which I had the 

 opportunity of examining are those of the tongue, palate, 

 oesophagus, larynx and trachea. These organs were obtained 

 very shortly after death, and in some instances I have succeeded 

 in obtaining preparations which, as regards the preservation of the 

 elements, are not inferior to those I obtained from animals freshly 

 killed. 



In the glands of the tongue and palate we find the same rela- 

 tions as in the glands of dog, both as regards the intimate 

 structure of the mucous cells, and also as regards their different 

 stages of function. The alveoli in the human mucous glands of 

 these organs possess no real " crescents," i.e. none composed of 

 "granular" cells. There is, however, a difference between the 

 mucous glands of man and dog, which consists in the fact that in 

 the former, when in the state of rest, the nucleus of the mucous 

 cells is not so compressed and not so much pressed against the 

 membrana propria as in the latter, being more rounded, and as 

 in other columnar epithelial cells, e.g. intestine, situated in the 

 outer portion of the cell. But when the cells of the human 

 mucous glands are in a state of secretion, i.e. when the cells are 

 larger and filled with mucin, the nucleus resembles in its com- 

 pressed shape and its peripheral position that of the mucous 

 cells of the dog's gland when in the same state. 



The alveoli or gland tubes of the scarce mucous glands of the 

 human oesophagus present themselves in the following states : 

 («) either they are lined with beautiful columnar cells, which on 

 account of the dense nature of the intracellular network, appear 

 *' granular,'' the fibrils having however predominantly a longitu- 

 dinal arrangement, hence the cell-substance appears more or less 

 distinctly longitudinally striated ,- each cell possesses a spherical 

 nucleus, situated in the outer part and containing a uniform 

 network, [b) Or the alveoli are lined with mucous cells of the 

 ordinary description with a nucleus pressed against the membrana 

 propria j the cell- substance is clear, and its network open 

 like that of ordinary mucous cells ; we notice also here that the 

 network has a different arrangement in the inner and outer 

 portion of the cell, in the former being more longitudinally 

 arranged — hence this part appears longitudinally striated, — in 

 the latter the network is more uniform. The interfibrillar or 

 interstitial substance, i.e. the substance contained in the network, 

 is in some alveoli a clear homogeneous substance — mucigen ; in 

 others it is stained deeply with hsematoxylin — mucin, the cell 



