THE STOMACH. 



505 



Nothing is known about the h/niphafics ; nor are the relations of the 

 nerves yet ascertained, except that Ecker has observed the division of 



Fiff. 202. 



fine nervous tubules in the muscular tunics of the stomach of the Frog 

 and Rabbit. 



MUCOUS MEMBRANE OF THE STOMACH. 



§ 149. The gastric mucous membrane is soft and loose in texture ; 

 and its color, during digestion, is reddish-gray or bright red, at other 

 times grayish. When the stomach is empty, the inner surface is thrown 

 into longitudinal folds, which disappear in its distended state. Further- 

 more, it presents, especially in the pyloric region, around the apertures 

 of the tubular or gastric glands, little reticulated folds or even isolated 

 villi^ {plicce villosce, Krause) of 0-024-0-048 or even 0-1 of a line, 

 ( 3^0-2 5 Krause). Not unfrequently, also, the mucous membrane is 

 marked out especially upon the right side, by little shallow depressions, 

 into slightly raised polygonal areiB of |-2 lines, the so-called " etat 

 mamelonnd" of pathologists, which, however, is also exhibited by per- 

 fectly healthy stomachs. The mucous membrane is thinnest (^-J of a line), 

 at the cardia, in the middle it becomes thickened to J a line, and in the 



Fig. 202. — Bloodvessels of the smootli muscles of the intestine, magnified 45 diameters. 



* [These gastric villi have been recently accurately described and depicted by Dr. Neill, 

 (vid. Amer. Jonrn. of Med. Sc, Jan. 1S51.) By the aid of minute injections, Dr. Neill 

 found that the ridges between the orifices of the tubuli, formed of convoluted capillaries, 

 become larger and more elevated in the antrum pylori, and that as the pyloric orifice is 

 approached, distinct, conical villi make their appearance, which he thinks, have not been 

 previously described as constant by any of the writers on the subject. These villi are not 

 as large as those of the small intestines, but, otherwise, similar in appearance. They are 

 mainly composed of capillaries closely united by a basement membrane, and are covered 

 with a cylinder-epithelium. In the antrum pylori, alveoli of different shapes exist in the 

 interstices and at their bases. Whether they contain lacteals or not is doubtful. 



The uses of these gastric villi have not as yet been ascertained. Dr. Neill (1. c.) suggests, that 

 they may be connected with the absorption of solutions of albuminous compounds. — DaC] 



