506 THE INTESTINAL CANAL, BY E. KLEIN AND E. VERSON. 



over the anterior third of the median line ; more externally it 

 is generally thicker, attaining its maximum posteriorly. 



The fasciculi, as a general rule, run as if they radiated from 

 the arch of the alveolus of the upper jaw towards the median 

 line of the hard palate. In the anterior part of the mucous 

 membrane, consequently, they run from before backwards, but 

 more posteriorly from side to side. 



Their constituent elements consist anteriorly, for the most 

 part, of broad fibres, which form a close plexus beneath the 

 epithelium ; but at a plane somewhat deeper there is a loose 

 network of connective tissue, constituting a submucous layer, 

 the fibres of which are more densely matted as they approach 

 the bone, and finally become continuous with the periosteum. 

 In the middle and posterior thirds the mucous membrane 

 beneath the epithelium is looser in texture, but at a deeper level 

 the fasciculi of connective tissue are woven into a compact felt, 

 and separate in the submucous tissue from one another to form 

 meshes of variable size. Laterally the submucous tissue con- 

 tains fat cells which are most abundant in the middle third. 



The vessels and nerves run in the submucous tissue of the 

 middle line and lateral portions of the anterior third, the 

 former pursuing for the most part a longitudinal, the latter a 

 transverse direction. The more externally the part examined is 

 situated, the more numerous are the nerves, the small branches 

 of which form arches in the mucosa. In the middle part of the 

 hard palate, and in the first instance laterally, acinous glands 

 occur in the submucous tissue, which are isolated in front, but 

 subsequently grouped either into a single or (towards the pos- 

 terior and external portion of the middle third) into two longitu- 

 dinal rows. Szontagh counted 250 glands in the hard palate* 



After the mucous membrane of the oral cavity has covered 

 the hard palate, it forms posteriorly a muscular fold, the velum 

 palati, or soft palate, which presents in man a conical median 

 prolongation, the uvula, and is also continuous with the mu- 



* Szontagh, Beitrage zur feineren Anatomie des menschlichen Gau- 

 mens, " Essays on the Minute Anatomy of the Hard Palate in Man ;" 

 Sitzungsberichte der k. k. Akadenrie der Wissenschaft. zu Wien. Marz 

 Heft, 1866. 



