THE PANCREAS. 



137 



OF THE PANCREAS. 



§ 164. 



The pancreas is a compound racemose gland, which so closely 

 resembles the salivary glands, that a short exposition of its 

 peculiarities will suffice. As in all such glands, larger, smaller 

 and smallest lobes, may be very distinctly made out, the last 

 being composed of microscopic glandular vesicles, which are 

 here characterised by their moderate size 0*02 — O04'" and 

 their usually rounded form. They possess a membrana propria 

 and a tesselated epithelium, whose cells are very frequently 

 remarkable from the great number of fat granules, so that 

 the glandular vesicles appear quite opaque and as if entirely 

 filled with secretion. The excretory ducts, which, as elsewhere, 

 are connected with the glandular vesicles, uniting into larger 



Fig. 225. 



canals and, eventually, into the duct of Wirsung, or pancreatic 

 duct, are whitish and somewhat thin walled. They are com- 

 posed of connective tissue and of elastic fibrils and all possess 

 an epithelium with small cylindrical cells, scarcely exceeding 

 Fig. 225. Vessels of the pancreas of the Rabbit, x 45. 



