268 



NORMAL HISTOLOGY. 



corpuscles are probably transmitted to the sensorium in the manner 

 indicated in Fig. 240. 



Pacinian corpuscles are found in the palms and soles, on the 

 nerves of the joints and periosteum, in the pericardium, and in the 

 pancreas. 



2. Taste. — The special organs of taste appear to be the taste- 



Fig. 251. 



Pacinian corpuscle, from the mesentery of the cat. (Klein.) a, nerve-fibre; b, concentric 

 capsule. The nature of the cells in this capsule is a matter of doubt ; analogy would 

 suggest their epithelial nature. 



buds, situated in the walls of the sulci surrounding the circum- 

 vallate papilla? of the tongue (see Fig. 116). 



The taste-buds are bulb-shaped groups of epithelial and nervous 

 cells, situated within the stratified epithelium lining the sulci. The 

 cells composing these buds are spindle-shaped or tapering, and their 

 ends are grouped together at the base of the bud and converge at 

 its apex, where they occupy a " pore " in the stratified epithelium. 

 The epithelial cells do not appear to be active in the inauguration 

 of nervous impulses, but the more spindle-shaped cells lying among 

 them seem to be endowed with nervous functions. They may, pos- 

 sibly, be regarded as peculiar neurons ; their distal processes, which 

 receive stimuli at the pore, being the dendrite, while the proximal 

 process is the neurite. The latter divides into a number of minute 

 branches, which, from this point of view, might be regarded as tele- 

 neurites. Be this as it may, these branches come into close relations 



