462 SPECIAL HISTOLOGY. 



of these with cells and nuclei, perfectly identical with those contained 

 in the parietal follicles of the tonsillar cavities. How these cells are 

 formed and whence they arise, I know not. It would seem probable 

 that they proceed from follicles which have burst, a process which may 

 really occur in man, though from what is observed in animals we can 

 hardly assume their dehiscence to be a normal process.* 



In man it is quite impossible, in a vast number of cases, to find the 

 follicles which we have described in the walls of the tonsils, a circum- 

 stance which appears to me to be explained by the frequent morbid 

 changes to which these organs are subject. In fact, in the course of 

 inflammations of the tonsils and their sequelce, the contents of the folli- 

 cles appear to alter, the follicles themselves becoming distended, and 

 finally bursting. The closed sacs, filled with purulent or caseous masses, 

 which are described in diseased tonsils, when they do not exceed a certain 

 size, may be nothing else than such follicles ; and by their bursting they 

 may yield those masses of secretion which are accumulated in the larger 

 cavities. It thus happens, that the normal structure is frequently no longer 

 recognizable in the walls of the tonsils, and that we find, at most, recently 

 opened follicles, or more usually nothing but a granular mass interpene- 

 trated by fibres and vessels, with remains of papill?e and of epithelium. 



On the other hand, however, the frequent pathological degenerations 

 have this advantage, that if we hapj5en to hit upon the right period, all 

 the follicles may be seen enlarged, but still closed and beautifully 

 injected, so that it is quite impossible to overlook them. An instance 

 of such a hyperasraic tonsil, with distended, lingual follicular glands, 

 the follicles attaining a size of 0'36-0-48 of a line, was what first led 

 me to a conception of the true structure of these parts, which has been 

 only verified by subsequent investigations. The difficulties attending 

 the investigation in man disappear in many animals, and I can especially 

 recommend the tonsils of the Pig and Sheep, the lingual follicular glands 

 of the Ox and the tonsil-like organs at the entrance of the larynx in 

 the Pig, Sheep, and Ox, in which the structure may be always readily 

 made out, both in fresh organs and in those which have been hardened 

 in strong alcohol. 



With respect to the secretion of the tonsils in man, it is certainly ab- 

 normal in many cases, in the dead subjects which are accessible for 

 investigation ; for instance, when the cavities contain considerable quau- 



* [In the Mikroskopische Anatomic, B. II. H. 11., p. 46, Professor Kolliker adds a few 

 points to the account here given of the structure of the tonsils. In man, racemose glands 

 are not unfrequently met with external to the tonsils, and probably open in them ; and in 

 the Calf, a considerable number of such glands may be found between the lobes of the 

 organ. In opposition to Frerichs (Wagn. Handw. III., p. 745), Kolliker states that he lias 

 "not yet" found solitary glands like those of the intestine in the mucous membrane of the 

 mouth. — Tbs.] 



