6 THE STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONS 



exhibited in their interior a group or mass of oil-like globules, 

 which, when viewed as opaque objects, had a peculiar semi- 

 opaque or opalescent appearance.* Others of the epithelia, con- 

 tained in the chyme, were prismatic, single, or in columns. They 

 were the lining epithelia of the follicles of Lieberkiihn, and pre- 

 sented the usual nuclei. 



The mucous membrane displayed the villi turgid, as if in a 

 state of erection, and, as I had anticipated, naked or destitute of 

 epithelia, except at their bases where a few still adhered. Each 

 villus was covered by a very fine smooth membrane, which from 

 its free bulbous extremity, passed on to its sides, and became 

 continuous with the germinal membrane of the follicles of 

 Lieberkiihn. These villi, when removed from the mucous mem- 

 brane, and examined with a low power, were semi-transparent, 

 except at their free or bulbous extremities, which appeared both 

 by direct or transmitted light white and opaque. Under higher 

 powers the summit of the villus, somewhat flattened, was observed 

 to be crowded, immediately under the membrane before men- 

 tioned j with a number of perfectly spherical vesicles. These 

 vesicles varied in size from 1000 to less than 2000 of an inch. 

 The matter in their interior had an opalescent milky appearance. 

 Towards the body of the villus, on the edges of the vesicular mass, 

 minute granular or oily particles were situated in great num- 

 bers, and gradually passed into the granular texture of the sub- 

 stance of the villus. 



The trunks of two lacteals could be easily traced up the centre 

 of the villus, and as they approached the vesicular mass they sub- 

 divided and looped. In no instance could one of these lacteals 

 be traced to any of the spherical vesicles, nor could any direct 

 communication between the structures be detected.! The blood- 

 vessels and capillaries, with their columns of tawny blood disks, 

 could be seen passing in radiating lines and in loops across the 

 villus, immediately under the fine membrane already mentioned. 

 This membrane, perceptible on the body and neck of the villus 

 only by the smooth surface it presented, was most distinctly 



* Is this appearance due to a partial absorption of chyle by these protective epithelia ? 

 t See Gulliver's translation of Gerber's General Anatomy, page 272 and 273. 



