152 



NORMAL HISTOLOGY. 



resembles the general lining of the mouth. The submucous tissue of this 

 surface contains a variable amount of fat, which is wanting in the correspond- 

 ing position on the upper aspect of the palate. Scattered small taste-buds 



lands 



Glands 



neurotic tissue - 



'"'> ^^ssmii 



PharynReal -i 

 mucous 

 membrane ? 



Oral mucous membrane 



Obliquely cut 

 muscles 



FIG. 191. Lateral sagittal section of soft palate. X 15. 



are occasionally encountered within the epithelium of the lower surface. 

 The ultimate distribution of the blood-vessels and nerves of the palatine 

 mucosa follows the general plan of the oral mucous membrane. 



THE PHARYNX. 



The pharynx or throat is a musculo-fibrous sac, lined with mucous 

 membrane, that extends from the base of the skull to the level of the upper 

 border of the seventh cervical vertebra. It communicates with the Eusta- 

 chian tubes, the nasal fossae, the oral cavity and the larynx, and is continuous 

 below with the oesophagus. The walls of the pharynx comprise three gen- 

 eral strata: (i) the muscular layer, made up of the striated fibres of the 

 pharyngeal constrictors and the associated muscles; (2) the fibrous layer, a 

 membranous framework of dense fibro -elastic tissue, strong above but 

 weaker below and continued into the oesophagus ; and (3) the mucous 

 membrane, which, with the submucous layer, lines all parts of the pharynx 

 and presents striking local modifications. 



Within the naso-pharynx, that division lying above the level of the soft 

 palate, the mucous membrane mostly resembles that of the adjoining respira- 

 tory part of the nasal fossae, being clothed with stratified ciliated epithelium 

 and containing many small mixed (sero-mucous) tubo-alveolar glands. Over 

 portions of the posterior wall of the naso-pharynx, as well as over the uvula and 

 neighboring region of the upper surface of the soft palate, the epithelium is 



