300 THE ADRENAL, GENERAL MOTOR, AND VAGAL SYSTEMS. 



The terminal varicose fibers of this plexus are particularly in- 

 teresting to us, since they form in the muscular coat of the 

 stomach an i/i^mmuscular plexus which entwines, as it were, 

 the muscular fibers. Furthermore, this plexus gives off fila- 

 ments which, entering deeper into the wall of the stomach, 

 form another plexus, also containing many ganglia: i.e., Meiss- 

 ner's plexus. This net-work of sympathetic elements fibers, 

 ganglia, cells, etc. lies in the submucous coat, i.e., imme- 

 diately under the muscularis mucosse, which separates the 

 latter from the secretory glands. Besides the many filaments 

 it distributes to the thin submucous muscular layer, it gives 

 off a large number that penetrate this layer. These, on reach- 

 ing the glands, form a close net-work in the connective-tissue 

 sheath surrounding them, which net-work gives off delicate 

 fibrils that enter into the glandular elements themselves. 

 They likewise supply terminal fibers to the neighboring mus- 

 cular elements and to their vascular supply. 



The blood-vessels of the stomach are distributed in a very 

 similar manner. Piersol 4 describes them as follows: "The 

 larger arteries, after penetrating the outer coats, divide within 

 the submucosa into smaller branches, one set of which pierces 

 the muscularis mucosae, to be distributed to the mucous mem- 

 brane, while the other enters the muscular and serous tunics. 

 The vessels supplying the mucosa form a rich subepithelial 

 capillary net-work as well as mesh-works surrounding the gastric 

 glands, the capillaries lying immediately beneath the base- 

 ment membrane in close proximity to the glandular epithelium. 

 The branches distributed to the outer layers form long-meshed 

 capillary net-works from which the muscle-bundles and fibrous 

 tissue derive their supply." A feature that requires emphasis 

 in this connection is the manner in which the vessels are finally 

 distributed to the mucous membrane: The small arteries or 

 arterioles do not themselves ascend between the glands, but 

 give off fine capillaries that do so. These, by anastomosing 

 with one another, form a very rich plexus which surrounds 

 each glandular tubule in a net-work of close hexagonal meshes. 

 The cellular secreting elements of the glands being covered 



* Piersol: "Normal Histology," p. 166, 1900. 



