GLANDS. 489 



The granular, or, more correctly speaking, the nuclear, 

 contents of the villi have been noticed by several observers 

 (See Plate LII. fig. 1,2.). Dr. Jones, however, in the com- 

 munication already referred to, has pointed out the fact that 

 the nuclear and granular contents of one villus are con- 

 tinuous with those of another, and that the granules and 

 nuclei form a continuous stratum lying beneath the base- 

 ment membrane, extending not merely from villus to villus, 

 but also throughout the large intestines, where it is very 

 easily seen in the spaces between the follicles. 



Professor Goodsir has described these granular nuclei, as 

 enlarging during the process of absorption, and as forming 

 a number of enlarged and very evident cells at the apex of 

 the villus. These supposed cells, however, are nothing 

 more than oil drops, usually of a brown colour, and of 

 various sizes. (See Plate LII. fig. 2.) At this conclusion I 

 arrived many months since, and gave a figure of these oil 

 drops in the villi in the 13th Part of the Microscopic 

 Anatomy, published in April 1848 ; and I am glad that 

 Dr. Jones entertains a similar opinion of their nature. I 

 may at the same time remark, that the cells delineated in 

 the original figure given by Professor Goodsir, have all the 

 characters of oil drops, being round, smooth, and reflecting 

 the light strongly. 



The use of these oil drops in the villi is by no means 

 evident : they are formed, in all probability, by the cohesion 

 of the smaller oily granules which are scattered throughout 

 the villi during the process of absorption, and which con- 

 tribute so greatly to their opacity ; in the end they are most 

 probably absorbed by the lacteals. 



Notwithstanding, however, the non-existence of the pecu- 

 liar cells described by Professor Goodsir, the leading idea of 

 that observer of the elaboration of the chyme within the 

 villus is still correct, the agents in this Avork being the 

 nuclei already described. 



The presence of these nuclei throughout the whole length 

 of the villus seems to point to the inference that it is not 

 the apex only which absorbs. 



