OF THE GLANDS OF THE SKIN. 211 



3. Yellow or brownish granules, and masses of granules, free or rarely in 

 cells, few upon the whole. 4. Lastly, when the secretion is more fluid, also 

 a small quantity of a clear liquid. I consider that the first-named cells 

 belong to the sebaceous secretion of the external meatus ; but that the 

 remainder is the secretion of the ccruminous glands, which would, there- 

 fore, eliminate oily fluid with scattered brown granules. This being the 

 case, the analysis by Berzelius of the common ear-wax, a mixture of the 

 sebaceous and proper ceruminous secretion, must only be admitted with 

 caution. In my opinion, the brownish-yellow bitter substance, soluble 

 in alcohol and water, found by him, and the pale yellow strong-tasted 

 extractive matter, hardly soluble in water, and not at all in alcohol, 

 must be attributed to the ceruminous glands ; the remaining fat, the horny 

 matter, and probably also most of the albumen, to the sebaceous glands ; 

 wbilst the relations of the salts must, of course, be left undetermined. 



The vessels of the ceruminous glands are disposed like those of the 

 sudoriparous ; in one case I noticed, in addition, a fine nervous fibre of 

 0-003 of a line in the midst of a gland. As to the development of these 

 glands I can only say, that in a foetus of five months they had the form 

 of straight, pale processes of the stratum Malpigliii of the epidermis of 

 the external auditory meatus, were entirely composed of nucleated cells, 

 and ended by a slightly enlarged termination somewhat twisted upon its 

 axis, in which the first indication of a glandular coil was presented. In 

 other words, these rudimentary glands exactly resembled the sudoripa- 

 rous glands at the same period ; and considering the great anatomical 

 resemblance between the two structures, I do not doubt for a moment 

 that the ceruminous glands, both in their first commencement and sub- 

 sequently, go through the same phases as the former. 



According to all that I have seen of the ceruminous glands, I must 

 consider them to be mere modifications of the sudoriparous. In speak- 

 ing of these it has already been remarked, that their secretions are 

 certainly not everywhere identical, being in one locality more aqueous, 

 in another fatty and albuminous, with peculiar odorous ingredients. 

 Even although the cerumen may, to some extent, contain peculiar sub- 

 stances, e. </., the yellow bitter substance, which, however, according to 

 Lehmann, is not bilin, nevertheless, taking into account the other cor- 

 respondences (consider the almost constant and often very abundant 

 yellow granules in the sudoriparous glands, which are also insoluble iu 

 acids and alkalies), we may associate the ceruminous glands with the 

 sudoriparous, especially with the larger among the latter, which are 

 both anatomically and physiologically most closely allied to them ; in 

 fact, I am inclined, for my own part, to think, that the smallest pale 

 ceruminous glands at the commencement of the meatus are hardly dis- 

 tinguishable from common sudoriparous glands. Nothing is known of 

 the pathological conditions of the ceruminous glands — of the cerumen 



