1078 REPORT—1885. 
A reflex contraction of these muscles can readily be induced by stimulation of 
various parts, ¢.g., the spinal cord. 
5. On the Structure of the Intestine in the Hedgehog and the Mole. 
By Dr. J. A. McWi1t1am. 
The intestine of the hedgehog, like that of certain other mammals, shows. 
externally no division into a small and large intestine. 
I have found that there exists, however, a histological division into parts. 
corresponding to the small and large intestine of man, 
In the upper and longer portion of the hedgehog’s intestine—that corresponding 
to the human small intestine—the details of structure are for the most part similar 
to that of man, with the exception, as one might expect, of valvulz conniventes. 
The villi are large and densely set. In vertical sections they show with remark- 
able clearness the Jacteal vessels which they contain. These vessels form a rich 
plexus instead of a simple loop or a blind tube as in man; they approach the 
surface of the villus and lie in close relation with the basement membrane, 
instead of being confined to the median part of the villus and enclosed by a con- 
siderable amount of adenoid tissue as in the human villus. 
The lower portion of the hedgehog’s intestine—that corresponding to the large 
intestine of man—resembles in the chief points of its structure the human colon. 
The longitudinal muscular tissue, however, is uniformly arranged around the 
bowel instead of being collected into three bands. 
The transition from the villous part of the hedgehog’s intestine to the non-- 
villous part is abrupt, just as is the transition from the characteristic structure of 
the small intestine to that of the large intestine in man. 
The intestine of the mole presents some remarkable features. One of the most 
striking of these is the entire absence of villi. The mucous surface of the bowel 
along the greater part of its length is beset with ridges, which are elevations of the 
mucous membrane projecting into the interior of the intestine. At the lower part 
of the bowel there are no ridges; this part corresponds to the large intestine of 
man. The ridged part, on the other hand, corresponds to the small intestine of 
an The transition from the ridged to the non-ridged part is comparatively 
sudden. 
The arrangement of the ridges is strikingly different in the upper and lower 
portions of the ridged part of the mole’s intestine. In the upper part the ridges 
are so arranged as to form a pretty close network with polygonal meshes of 
various sizes on the internal surface of the bowel. In the lower portion of the 
ridged part of the intestine the ridges are, on the other hand, arranged longitudi- 
nally; they run in the long axis of the bowel, pursuing a remarkable wavy course 
and maintaining a well-marked parallelism to each other. The transition from 
this arrangement to that in the upper part of the intestine is very gradual. 
The portion of bowel which shows the network of ridges alluded to probably 
corresponds to a duodenum and jejunum, while the longitudinally ridged part is 
probably equivalent to an ileum. 
Vertical sections show that the structure of the ridges is essentially similar to. 
that of the hedgehog’s villi. The lacteals are similarly arranged, and are seen with 
remarkable plainness without the application of any process of silver nitrate 
staining or of injecting the lacteal vessels. 
The peculiar ridges of the mole’s intestine may possibly have some relation to 
the ridges which are described by Meckel as occurring in the human intestine at a 
very early stage of development. 
6. On Plant-Digestion, especially us occurring in Carica papaya. 
By Stpyey Martin, M.D., B.Sc., M_R.C.P. 
_ 1. History of the discovery of proteolytic ferments in the vegetable kingdom—— 
in the ‘insectivorous’ plants, and in the seeds, 
The two different uses of the ferments—(qa) for the assimilation of nitrogenous 
