NO. II. 



THE STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONS OF THE 

 INTESTINAL VILLT. 



Mr. Cruikshank, in treating of the orifices of the Lacteals and 

 Lymphatics,* states that he and Dr. William Hunter observed 

 the openings by which the lacteals communicated with the cavity 

 of the gut in portions of the intestine of a woman who died after 

 eating a hearty supper. The two preparations of the intestine on 

 which these anatomists made their observations, came into the pos- 

 session of the College of Surgeons in Edinburgh, as part of the 

 collection of the late Sir Charles Bell. 



I removed one of the villi from Mr. Cruikshank's preparation, 

 and had no difficulty in recognising what had been described and 

 figured by the original owner of the preparation. With a low 

 power the extremity of the villus appeared bulbous and opaque. 

 With a higher power I observed that this opacity was due to the 

 existence, at the extremity of the villus, of a number of vesicles 

 of different sizes. The larger vesicles were pretty uniform in size, 

 and about twenty in number. The smaller were of different sizes, 

 and more numerous, and appeared gradually to pass into the gra- 

 nular texture of the attached extremity of the villus. No blood- 

 vessels could be detected, but along the neck of the villus distinct 

 traces of two or more opaque lacteals were visible. The vesicles 



* William Cruikshank. The Anatomy of the Absorbing Vessels of the Human Body, 

 2d Ed., 1790, page 56. 



