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



in texture than that which is deeper, and forms the sub- 

 mucous tissue in which the glands and muscles are found. 

 The fasciculi of connective tissue found in the velum palati 

 and uvula may be considered to run in three directions ; the 

 first of these, for the most part lying externally, run horizon- 

 tally and from side to side ; the second longitudinally ; and 

 these two sets form the felt of the mucosa ; lastly, there is a 

 third set, which, emanating from the first two, runs from the 

 mucosa in an obliquely divergent manner into the deeper parts, 

 in order to enter the mucosa of the opposite side. These last- 

 mentioned fibres form, by their decussation, the loose network 

 of the- ( submucous tissue of the soft palate and uvula, which, as 

 usual p contains a variable quantity of fine elastic fibres, small 

 lymph corpuscles, and large connective tissue corpuscles, with 

 numerous vessels and nerves. In the soft palate and uvula of 

 the adult there project from the surface of the mucous mem- 

 brane into the epithelial layer conical or cylindrical papillae 

 with rounded extremities. These papillae are much larger and 

 more numerous on the uvula than on the soft palate. (In one 

 transverse section of the uvula of an adult I counted 130 in a 

 single plane.) 



In the velum palati of the new-born infant the relations 

 of these parts #re somewhat different. In such I find no 

 papillae on the upper surface, but the vessels advance as 

 far as the epithelium, and there loop back, or course for 

 some distancej immediately beneath the epithelium. On the 

 inferior surface again we find similarly looped vessels forming 

 broad and flat arcades, especially in longitudinal sections, im- 

 mediately subjacent to the deeper surface of the epithelium, 

 or a bloodvessel with a little mucous tissue may project into 

 the inferior layer of the epithelial cells. These appearances 

 may be remarkably well seen at the borders of the folds. Two 

 or three branches may there be seen to be given off from a 

 larger vessel, and, accompanied by a little fibrous tissue, to 

 penetrate between the epithelial cells. At the most prominent 

 portion of the folds two or three pointed papillae appear of 

 equal breadth but variable length. The mucous membrane of 

 the velum palati is extraordinarily rich in vessels. Just be- 

 neath the epithelium, as well as in the deeper layers of the 



