EXAMINATION OF THE GLANDULAR SYSTEM. 



663 



matrix or network formed by the union of the vascular and the 

 condensed cellular tissues. They are of different sizes, though 

 generally very small, and contain a few oil- globules. They may 

 be obtained by scraping a freshly-cut surface; placed upon a slip 

 of glass and moistened with a few drops of water, they are ready 

 for examination. These cells undergo various changes in disease. 

 Sometimes they are withered and shrunk ; sometimes filled with 

 pale granules, as in diabetic cases, and at others, gorged with fat 

 to such an extent as to obliterate the cell-walls, and give to the 

 liver the appearance of ordinary adipose tissue. (Fig. 372.) 



FIG. 372. 



Kidney. The general arrangement of the straight and con- 

 voluted tubes, and the varying appearance of their epithelium, 

 may be well shown upon thin sec- 

 tions cut out of the cortical and 

 medullary portions of the kidney, 

 by means of a Valentin's knife. 

 By scraping the freshly-cut sur- 

 face, epithelial cells may be ob- 

 tained, mixed, however, with Mai- 

 pighian tufts and fragments of 

 tubes. (Fig. 373.) In the convo- 

 luted tubes the epithelium is thick 

 and glandular ;, in the straight 

 it presents a scaly appearance. 

 Care must be taken not to con- 

 found the tubes, as they bend 

 in and out through the matrix, 

 with circumscribed cysts. The 



kidney Of the mOUSe and Of many A, Portion of uriniferous tube lined by epithe- 



of the other rodentia, are better lium - B ' E P ithelial cells ' hi ^ h 'y magnified, c. 



-, . T n n . .. ,, Portion of tube from medullary substance, de- 



adapted for demonstrating the prived of epithelium. 



matrix than the human kidney. 



Indeed, its existence in the latter has been doubted by some, not- 



