506 



SPECIAL HISTOLOGY. 



pyloric region to | or 1 "line, -which depends entirely upon the glandular 

 layer, since the epithelium and muscular layer everywhere possess the 

 same thickness. The submucous tissue is abundant and, as throughout 

 the whole intestine, contains occasional fat-cells. 



§ 150, The gastric glands. — The gastric glands — the most important 

 part of the mucous membrane — are tubular glands which, set close 



together, pass straight through the entire 

 ^'^' -^^' thickness of the mucous membrane to its 



muscular layer, and therefore vary, in the 



different regions of the stomach, from I to 



4J 





or even 1 line, but are on the average J a 

 line in length. Each of them commences 

 as a cylindrical tube, of 0-03-0-04 of aline 

 in diameter, at the surface of the mucous 

 membrane, diminishes inferiorly to as little 

 as 0-014-0-02 of a line, and terminates by 

 a clavate or flask-shaped enlargement of 

 0-02-0-026-0-036 of a line. The lower 

 third of the glands is usually undulated or 

 even twisted into a corkscrew shape, espe- 

 cially at the pylorus ; occasionally it gives 

 off a shorter or longer csecal branch before 

 its termination. Every gastric gland is sur- 

 rounded by a delicate memhrana i^ropria and 

 possesses in its upper third, a cylindrical epithelium continuous with that 

 of the surface of the stomach ; for the inferior three-fourths of its extent, 

 on the other hand, it presents pale, finely granular, polygonal nucleated 

 cells of 0-006-0-01 of a line, which probably never constitute a distinct 

 epithelium, but appear completely to fill the tubes.* 



Fig. 203. — Perpendicular section through the tunics of the Pig's stomach, from tlie pylorus, 

 magnified 30 diameters: a, glands; 6, muscular layer of the mucous membrane; c, submu- 

 cous tissue (Junica nerved), with divided vessels; rf, transverse layer of muscles; f, longitudi- 

 nal layer of muscles; /, serous membrane. 



* [Professor Kolliker (" Verhandlungen der. Phys. Med. Gesellsch. zu WUrzb." vol. IV. 1, 

 p. 52), has recently had the opportunity, in a case of suicide by drow^ning, of examining 

 the human gastric mucous smembrane in a fresh and normal state. He directed par- 

 ticular attention to the glandular apparatus, and found that the gastric glands are not 

 as uniform in structure as above-described, but present three distinct types. 1. Simple 

 tubular glands with peptic cells,' (Labzellen). 2. Compound tubular glands with peptic 

 cells. 3. Compound tubular glands with cylinder epithelium. The first are the most 

 common ; they occur in the middle zone of the stomach, and are generally simple 

 tubular glands, some of which at their termination, give off short ca;cal branches. The 

 compound tubular glands with peptic cells occur in the narrow cardiac zone. They commence 

 by a tube of 0-04 to Q-OS""" long, 03 to 04'"'" broad, lined with cylinders. This divides 

 first into two or three, and then into four or seven equally long cylindrical tubules, which 



» Vid. p. 508. 



