THE MUCOUS MEMBRANE. 139 



element in typhoid fever, while others regard such lesion 

 simply a result of the latter. 



There is another set of glands "belonging to the mucous 

 membrane, called the Grlandulge Solitarige, or Solitary 

 Glands. These are of two kinds those having excretory 

 ducts, or openings, and those without. The first are found 

 in the large intestine, being most abundant in the coecum. 

 The second are seen in the small intestine, in the form of 

 small circular patches, surrounded by a wreath of simple 

 follicles, and, when opened, present a small, saccular, flat- 

 tened cavity, holding mucus. 



Dr. Homer, who has paid much attention to the investi- 

 gation of the minute anatomy of the mucous membrane, 

 seems to think, from his observations during the chol- 

 era, and minute injections of this membrane, that it "con- 

 sists almost entirely of a cribriform intertexture of veins ;" 

 and, in death, these veins being empty, are soft and spongy, 

 and give the velvety appearance of ordinary descriptions. 

 The arteries are described as few in number, and situated 

 beneath the venous intertexture, and much smaller than 

 the corresponding veins. The meshes in this venous inter- 

 texture are very minute, and are considered as the simple 

 follicles of Lieberkuhn, resting upon the arterio-venous 

 layer and cellular structure below as their basis. Dr. Homer 

 is led to believe, from this anatomical arrangement of the 

 mucous membrane, that the functions of these follicles are 

 rather for absorption than, as generally supposed, for secre- 

 tion. As the Fallopian tube, by a vascular turgescence, 

 erects itself and grasps the ovum, in like manner, says the 

 doctor, " as these intestinal follicles are formed in the midst 

 of veins, their orifices only become erect and patulous by 

 the distension of those veins, and cannot be well seen by 

 the eye alone, unless an injection has fully succeeded. But 

 the erection of these veins, during digestion, puts the folli- 

 cles in a similar condition; there is, therefore, some ground 

 of inference that the act of the Fallopian tube in conveying 

 a germ, and of a follicle in conveying into the thickness 

 of an intestine congenial matter, may be analogous." 



