G68 
MR. J. N. LANGLEY ON THE HISTOLOGY AND 
glands with some cells resembling in the main the oesophageal, and others resembling 
the oxyntic gland cells. Farther from the cardia the oesophageal granules diminish 
still more in size, so that they are scarcely or not at all larger than the oxyntic-cell 
granules. In some cases the granules can be referred without much difficulty to one 
type or the other ; in other cases they cannot. Occasionally one or more cells with 
large “oesophageal” granules occur in oxyntic glands at some distance from the cardia. 
The granules in the anterior oxyntic glands are, as a rule, rather larger than those in 
the posterior. 
The 'pyloric glands .—The pyloric region of the stomach forms about one-fifth to one- 
fourth of the length of the wffiole stomach ; it is recognised under the microscope by 
the transparency of its cells. Partsch* compared the pyloric gland to the mouth and 
neck of an oxyntic gland. The comparison is, I think, just. The cylindrical cells of 
the surface of the pyloric mucous membrane become shorter and shorter, and pass 
r without any break into the sub-cubical cells which form the greater part of the 
glands; below these are usually, though not always, one, two, or more distinct 
mucous cells. When the glands between the oxyntic and pyloric glands are examined 
it is seen that the mucous cells at the lower part of the pyloric glands correspond to 
the mucous cells at the lower part of the neck of the oxyntic glands. 
If the stomach of a hungry Frog is hardened in alcohol, and sections cut, it is seen 
that the sub-cubical cells of the oxyntic and pyloric glands closely resemble one 
another, and further that both closely resemble the cylindrical cells. 
The outer portion of the cylindrical cell consists, as we know, mainly of mucigen. 
In alcohol specimens this mucigen portion is transparent and sharply marked off from 
the protoplasm which forms the rest of the cell. Now, in alcohol specimens the outer 
portion of the sub-cubical cells, both in the oxyntic and pyloric glands, is similarly 
marked off; that is, the outer portion of the sub-cubical cells also consists mainly of 
mucigen. The two kinds of cells, then, resemble one another in having a protoplasmic 
inner portion and a mucigenous outer portion. They differ somewhat in shape : the 
one is usually a four-sided wedge, tapering to a fine point; the other more approaches 
a cube in shape, with a process from the base which bends round and overlaps the cell 
next below it. If the process wrnre straightened and the cell elongated a little we 
should have a “ cylindrical ” cell. The position of the processes of the sub-cubical cells 
is exactly similar to the position of the processes of the mucous cells; probably, 
indeed, these cells differ from one another chiefly in the extent to which they form 
mucigen. In the above description I have added but little to the account given by 
Heidenhain, Parts.ch, and Nussbaum. 
Osmic acid specimens prepared as above described (p. 665) do not show the resem¬ 
blance of the cylindrical and sub-cubical cells equally clearly. The former have the 
mucigen border fairly well marked, but the latter are much more equally stained 
throughout: the mucigen border is only shown by a somewhat lighter yellow-brown 
* Loc. at. 
