752 BEPOET— 1892. 



.3. Free bydrocliloric acid stage. — Acidity still increasinfj ; some free HCl, mostly 

 combined ; lactic acid disappearing. From the half-hour to three hours or so. 



4. The chief absorption stag-e.— Acidity falling, but proportion of free to com- 

 bined HCl rising. From tliird to fourth or fiftli hours. 



5. Evacuation. — Propulsion of contents into duodenum at fourth or fifth hours. 



Summing up, the higher proteids may be compound molecules formed by- 

 combinations of different numbers of a primary proteid molecule, which probably 

 is identical with the lowest proteid in the series. The compound molecules are 

 split up into simpler forms by saturation with HCl in the presence of pepsine, the 

 combination of the two evolving sufficient energy to effect this. 



The reappeai-ance of albumen in the walls "of the stomach daring absorption 

 may be a reversed process, consisting of dehydration and consequent attachment 

 of the lower proteid molecules together by the links thus left open. 



4. On tlie Sfrudnre of tie so-colled Tllhervatlncj Gland in tie Hedfjelioff. 

 Bij E. W. Carlier, M.B., IlSc, F.E.M.Sl, .fc. Senior Assistant 'to 

 the Prqfcssur of Plydulogij in the Uitiversittj of Edinhnrgh. 



This organ is a lobulated. bilateral, brownish-yellow structure, situated chiefly 

 in the axillary, thoracic, cervical, and dorsal regions. It derives its nervous supply 

 from the cutaneous branches of the cervical and upper intercostal nerves, in 

 connection with which a ganglion is developed in the axillary region. Its vascular 

 supply is obtained from the corresponding branches of the cervical and intercostal 

 arteries, and from the inferior thyroid artery. 



The organ is quite distinct from the thymus gland, though its cervical lobes 

 come into intimnte relation with the latter. 



The size of the organ varies with the period of the year; it attains its maximum 

 dimension in October, i.e., just at the commencement of hibernation, and its 

 minimum shortly after the animal has awakened from winter sleep. 



Each lobe is surrounded by a fibrous capsule, from which septa pass inwards, 

 dividing it into lobules: in these septa the blood-vessels and nerves ramify. In 

 the fully formed organ the lobules consist of rounded or polyhedral cells of vary- 

 ing size from 23 yi to 34 ^ in diameter; each cell consists of a granular mass of 

 protoplasm exhibiting a fine wide meshed protoplasmic network, interrupted here; 

 and there by droplets of fat that varj' considerably in size in different cases; in 

 the centre of the cell is a spherical nucleus measuring 5 /x to 7 w in diameter, so 

 rich in chromatin that the contained nucleolus is almost invisible in stained 

 preparations. The cell is surrounded by a definite though thin cell wall. A few- 

 cells contain two nuclei. The cells appear to arise at the margins of the develop- 

 ing lobules from small granular, unnucleated connective tissue corpuscles, which 

 divide again and asraiu, similar in appearance to those that give rise to adipose 

 tissue generally. These cells gradually enlarge, their protoplasmic network be- 

 coming more and more distinct ; presently tiny droplets of fat make their appear- 

 ance at difterent points in the cell, which go on increasing in size with the growth 

 of the cell, and which may or may not run together to form large fat droplets. 

 The fat, however, never increases to such an extent as to completely fill the cell, a 

 large part of the protoplasm, usually the peripheral portion, always remaining 

 altogether free from it; the nucleus, around which most of the droplets are 

 irregularly arranged, remains in the ceutre of the cell. Owing to the increase in 

 size, the cells which are at first rounded become polyhedral from mutual pressure. 

 The cells are always readily distinguishable from ordinary fat cells, of which many 

 may be developed in the fibrous capsule of the organ. 



Parallel with the increase in number and size of the cells there is an increase 

 in the capillary blood-vessels, w'hich multiply to produce a rich plexus between the 

 cells, much in the same way as in adipose tissue generally. The veins accompany 

 the arteries in their distribution. The ganglion found in connection with the 

 axillary part of the organ consists of small closely packed unipolar nerve cella 



