428 



MUCOUS MEMBRANES. 



Hence the difficulty of accounting for the place and mode of 

 origin of these cells. The epithelium has long since disappeared ; 

 it must have been stripped oif at the very outset of the process 

 by the development of the false membrane, just as in the 

 pharj'nx ; admitting the possibility of a fibrinous degeneration, 

 such as is described by Wag7ier (see § 365), the uppermost 

 stratum of the network might perhaps be regarded as consisting 

 of the bodies of the columnar epithelia, after their branching and 

 stiffening ; this view would lead us, however, to ascribe a diffe- 

 rent origin to the different layers of the network ; a lack of 

 uniformity which would be most undesirable. And yet the 

 mucous membrane of the trachea, stripped of its epithelium. 



Fig. 124. 



.c^iL^ 



r-.^-r^-r 





loXf^: 



Tracheal croup, o. The undermost layers of a false membrane ; 

 &. The basement-membrane; c. The sub-epithelial em- 

 bryonic tissue ; d. Efferent duct of a mucous gland, pour- 

 ing out a clear mucus, and peeling off the false mem- 

 brane. ToVxJ- 



with its homogeneous basement-membrane, reminds us too 

 forcibly of the ^^ open palm " of Charles YII.* not to make the 

 lacuna in our interpretation very sensible. Our only hope lies 



*In Schiller's Jungfrau von Orleans (Act i. sc. 3) King Charles is 

 made to exclaim, despairingly : 



*' Kami ich Armeen aus der Erde stampfen, 

 Wachst mir ein Kornfeld in der flachen Hand ? " 

 " Can I raise armies from the earth with a stamp of my foot, or grow 

 a cornfield in my open palm ? " 



For this reference 1 am indebted to the kindness of Professor 

 Buchheim. — Te. 



