GLANDS OF THE ORAL CAVITY. 459 



at least 3-4 capillaries. Nerves exist abundantly upon the excretory 

 ducts and, occasionally, moderately fine tubules are found in the glands 

 themselves. 



The secretion of the racemose glands is a clear, yellowish mucus, with 

 only accidentally intermingled granules, nuclei, and remains of cells, 

 which coagulates in acetic acid and is insoluble in an excess of it, re- 

 maining as a viscid mass, striated, or deceptively similar to a fibrous 

 tissue. It fills the excretory ducts and the other cavities of the gland 

 to their ultimate extremities, being readily rendered obvious in them by 

 acetic acid. I have never found the so-called mucous corpuscles, as'they 

 exist in the fluids of the mouth, in a mucous gland, and I believe that, 

 normally, the secretion of mucus goeson without the production of cells. 



II. — FOLLICULAR GLANDS. 



§135. The follicular glands of the cavity of the mouth are: firstly, 

 simple follicles at the root of the tongue and, secondly, compound follicles 

 at the sides of the isthmus fauciuni, — the tonsils. These organs agree so 

 perfectly in structure, that the tonsils may be regarded as an aggrega- 

 tion of simple follicular glands, while, on the other hand, they are so 

 widely different from the mucous glands that they can on no account be 

 classified with them. 



The simple follicular glands of the root of the tongue (Fig. 169, /), 

 form an almost continuous layer from the papillce vallatw as far as the 

 ejn'glottis and from one tonsil to the other, lying immediately under the 

 mucous membrane, and above the mucous glands. Their position is so 

 superficial, that the separate glands are visible from without, like little 

 elevations upon the mucous membrane, and allow their number and 

 arrangement to be recognized. "When dissected out, we see that each 

 follicle is a lenticular or globular mass of ^-2 lines in diameter, invested 

 upon its outer surface by the mucous membrane, which is here very thin, 

 lying loosely in the submucous tissue and receiving upon its under sur- 

 face the excretory duct of a more deeply disposed mucous gland. In 

 the midst of the free surface a punctiform aperture, often tolerably wide 

 i-J a line, is easily perceived by the naked eye ; it leads into a funnel- 

 shaped cavity, which is remarkable on the one hand for its narrowness, 

 in relation to the size of the sac, and on the other, for its thick walls, 

 and is usually filled with a grayish mucous material. 



Each follicle (Fig. 181) is a thick-coated capsule, externally surrounded 

 by a fibrous investment connected with the deep layers of the mucous 

 membrane ; internally, it is lined by a process of the mucous membrane 

 of the oral cavity, Avith its papilloe and epithelium, and contains between 

 the two, imbedded in a delicate, fibrous, vascular matrix, a certain 

 number of large, completely closed capsules, or follicles (Fig. 181, g), 

 which are about i'o-| of a line in diameter, round or elongated in form 



