SECT. 134.] ORAL FOLLICULAR GLANDS. 285 



have been no more successful in finding them, in the proper coat 

 of the follicles, than in the follicles of the tongue. 



The tonsils and the follicles of the tongue, agreeing as they do 

 in structure, appear also to agree in the nature of their secretion ; 

 but it cannot he readily obtained pure from the former, because 

 they also receive the ducts of mucous glands. It is a greyish- 

 white matter, resembling mucus, which, however, as far as I can 

 discover, contains no proper mucus, but consists of detached 

 epithelium (plates), either alone or mingled with cells and nuclei, 

 which entirely agree with those contained in the walls of the 

 cavities of the follicles, and perhaps, come from burst follicles. 



In inflammation of the tonsils, in man, it would appear that the follicles 

 hecorne swollen, their contents undergo alteration, and then they burst. The 

 shut sacs, filled with purulent or cheesy matter, which are described in 

 diseased states of the tonsils, may probably, when they do not exceed a 

 certain size, be merely such altered follicles, and, by bursting, may furnish 

 that secretion which collects in the larger cavities. Thus it so frequently 

 happens, that the normal structure in the walls of the tonsils can no longer 

 be recognised, and, at most, nothing is found but still open follicles, generally 

 merely a granular substance, containing fibres and vessels, with remains of 

 the papillae and epithelium. In children, aud in certain cases of slight 

 hypertrophy, however, the follicles of the tonsils may be seen very beau- 

 tifully. Of animals, the tonsils of the pig and sheep, and the tongue-follicles 

 of the ox, are to be recommended as suited for examination ; also the organs 

 resembling tonsils, situated near to the entrance of the larynx in the 

 pig, sheep, and ox, in which, when examined in the fresh condition, and 

 when hardened in strong alcohol, the structure can be at all times and 

 easily discovered. 



The greyish, yellowish, or greenish, sometimes softer, sometimes more con- 

 sistent material, which is so frequently met with in the cavities of the tonsils 

 as a somewhat abnormal occurrence, contains larger and smaller cells with 

 single nuclei, which have, in part, undergone the fatty degeneration, and 

 which sometimes present hollow spaces in their interior and thickenings of 

 their membranes ; further, epithelium, and occasionally crystals of chole- 

 sterine and filiform fungi. The secretion may be regarded as more normal 

 when it consists only of epithelium, of small cells destitute of fat, and of free 

 nuclei ; the latter two elements being quite the same as those in the follicles. 

 Still we frequently find such a considerable quantity of this secretion, as to 

 suggest the occurrence of an excessive cell-formation and rupture of the 

 follicles. 



The signification of the follicles of the tonsils and of the follicles of the 

 tongue (to which all that has been above remarked equally applies), is, in any 

 case, ambiguous. If they do not burst normally from time to time, which is 

 very improbable, they could, as far as regards their secretion, only be of use by 

 elaborating a fluid in their interior, which subsequently finds its way into the 

 hollow spaces of the glands. Moreover, the resemblance of the follicles in 

 question, with those of the solitary and especially of Pet/er's glands, as well as 



