FAT. 229 



Distribution. The fat vesicles are distributed in groups, 

 which lie near to and follow the course of the blood-vessels. 

 (See Plate XVIII.^y. 1.) This arrangement is particularly 

 evident in the mesentery and omentum, and may be com- 

 pared to that of a bunch of grapes, the fat vesicles represent- 

 ing the grapes, and the vessels the stalks of the bunch : in 

 one particular only does the comparison fail ; thus each 

 grape of the bunch receives and is attached to a separate 

 pedicle, which is not the case with the fat vesicles, although 

 one observer has asserted that a separate vessel is distributed 

 to each vesicle. The groups of fat vesicles occurring in 

 young animals, in which each globule is circular, may be 

 compared to heaps of shot piled up upon each other. 



In those situations in which the fat occurs in thick and 

 dense masses, the arrangement referred to is somewhat dif- 

 ferent. The fat vesicles are still parcelled out into groups 

 by means of intersecting cellular bands; but the several 

 groups lie in close contiguity, instead of being, as in the 

 former case, separated from each other by distinct intervals. 

 Throughout these masses, too, but few blood-vessels are dis- 

 tributed. 



The intimate arrangement of the fat vesicles having been 

 thus briefly sketched, it remains to describe the general dis- 

 tribution of fat throughout the body. 



In man, fat is developed principally in the loose cellular 

 tissue ; it is encountered forming a layer of variable thick- 

 ness in that which is situated immediately beneath the skin ; 

 in the serous membranes, as in the omenta, the mesenteries, 

 and the epiploa ; on the surface of the heart, and around the 

 kidney. 



In certain situations the subcutaneous fatty layer expe- 

 riences an increased development designed to fulfil certain 

 peculiar intentions ; thus, in the soles of the feet, the palms 

 of the hands, in the female breast, in the region of the pubis, 

 and over the glutei muscles, especially over those of the 

 Hottentot women, fat is developed usually in considerable 

 quantities. 



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