NOTE ON PACINIAN CORPUSCLES. 399 



Note on Pacinian Coepuscles. By Vincent Harris, M.D. 

 Lond. J Demonstrator of Practical Physiology at St. Bartho- 

 lomew's Hospital. With Plate XXXII. 



In one of last year's journals^ I called attention to the presence 

 of the corpuscles of Pacini or Vater in great numbers in the 

 pancreas of the cat and in the lymphatic mesenteric glands of 

 the same animal. To that note I desire to add the following 

 facts : 



Thyroid gland of the kitten. — My attention was called by Mr. 

 Pettifer to some sections of the thyroid gland of a kitten, which 

 contained several well-marked examples of the corpuscle in 

 question. They appeared to me, although situated in the very 

 midst of the gland, to be connected with the connective-tissue 

 framework rather than with the gland tissue proper. Their 

 structure was very distinctly seen, and their size was large. I 

 am unaware of any previous notice of Pacinian corpuscles having 

 been found in this locality. 



Pancreas of dog. — In my former note I supposed that the 

 presence of Pacinian corpuscles in the pancreas of the cat was to 

 be explained by the fact that in that animal they were especially 

 numerous in the mesentery. I have, however, found in the 

 pancreas of a dog hardened in absolute alcohol, well-marked 

 examples of these corpuscles. They were situated in the very 

 midst of the gland, and not markedly, as in the cat's pancreas, 

 surrounded with connective tissue. KoUiker mentions^ that 

 these bodies are found in man, invariably on the great sympa- 

 thetic plexus, in front of and close to the abdominal aorta, 

 behind the T^txiiorxQMm, particular ly near the pancreas, frequently 

 also in the mesentery close to the intestine ; but this observer 

 does not add any further mention of the existence of these 

 corpuscles in the pancreas itself. I append a drawing (Fig. 1) 

 of a corpuscle, chiefly interesting from the fact that it was not 

 far from a mass of ganghon cells (fig. 2), of which I have also 

 added a rough sketch. 



' 'Quart. Journ. Microscopic. Sci.,' vol, xxi, July, 1881. 



^ ' Manual of Human Histology,' 1852 (Syden. Soc. Trans.), vol i, p. 4G9. 



