THE CAPILLARIES. 



133 



tioned those of the brain, and of the follicles of the mucous 

 membrane of the intestines ; among the largest, those of the 

 skin, and especially those of the medulla of bones. 



The form of the capillary network presents considerable 

 variety in the different textures of the body : the varieties con- 

 sisting principally of modifications of two chief kinds of mesh, 

 the rounded and the elongated. That kind in which the meshes 

 or interspaces have a roundish form is the most common, and 

 prevails in those parts in which the capillary network is most 



FIG. 49. 



Magnified view of capillary vessels from the bladder of the cat. A, V, an artery 

 and a vein ; i, transitional vessel between them and c c, the capillaries. The muscu- 

 lar coat of the larger vessels is left out in the figure to allow the epithelium to be 

 seen at c', a radiate epithelium scale with four pointed processes, running out upon 

 the four adjoining capillaries (after Chrzonszczewesky, Virch. Arch. 1856)- 



dense, such as the lungs (Fig. 50), most glands, and mucous 

 membranes, and the cutis. The meshes of this kind of net- 

 work are not quite circular, but more or less angular, some- 

 times presenting a nearly regular quadrangular or polygonal 

 form, but being more frequently irregular. The capillary net- 

 work with elongated meshes (Fig. 51) is observed in parts in 

 which the vessels are arranged among bundles of fine tubes or 

 fibres, as in muscles and nerves. In such parts, the meshes 



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