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



The thickness of this muscular layer is somewhat greater in 

 general in the anterior wall of the oesophagus than in the pos- 

 terior. The submucous tissue is about four times as thick as 



Fig. 105. 



Fig. 105. Transverse section through the lower part of the oesopha- 

 gus of the newly horn Child, a a, epithelium ; b b, mucosa ; c, muscu- 

 laris mucossD; d, submucous tissue; e, layer of circular muscular fibres ; 

 /, longitudinal muscular layer; g, external fibrous layer; at h h, are 

 seen two of the ganglia of Auerbach. 



the mucosa, and is composed of longitudinal fasciculi of con- 

 nective tissue fibres that run parallel to one another, and are 

 always intermingled with finer and coarser elastic fibres. Ves- 

 sels and nerves derived from the muscularis externa are found 

 in this loose tissue, the nerves running obliquely towards the 

 muscularis mucosse. The fasciculi of the outer portion of the 

 submucous tissue are directly continuous with the external 

 fibrous membrane, and thus form the septa of the muscularis 

 externa. 



Acinous glands are rare and isolated, and less abundant in 

 the posterior wall of the oesophagus than upon the anterior. On 

 the latter they generally decrease in number from above to 

 near the middle, but increase to some extent from this point 

 downwards. They are small and oval, with their longer 

 diameter arranged vertically ; they lie in the submucous tissue, 



